Where the Wind May Lead
by Rinielle
Summary: Seiya's depressed, well that's to be expected, it's only been two weeks since the wedding of the year, and a certain tall, aggrivating blonde Senshi is not making things any easier... not at first at least. SeiyaXHaruka fic. On Hiatus sorry :
1. Get Over It

_Why is it that i just can't forget?_

_Your smile, your scent,the flick of your hair._

_The little things i loved about you_

_Haunt my every waking moment. _

Evening was creeping in, and a raven haired man was sat staring out of his window as he had done for the last few weeks. His brothers were stood in the doorway; twin looks of worry on both of their faces. It wasn't that they didn't know what was causing this, and they didn't blame him for his depression. The worry was that, if they didn't keep their eyes on him, he might just go over the edge, quite literally. He let out the millionth sigh of the day, and his youngest white haired brother, rolled his eyes and made to walk forwards. A hand blocked him. He gave an exasperated flick of his head to look up at his elder brown haired brother, who was giving him a look that clearly said 'leave him,' he rolled his eyes again and turned away from the door marching down the corridor towards their living room. The elder followed him closing the door quietly behind him.

"Yaten,"  
"I know, I know, save it will you Taiki," Yaten fell down onto the couch and folding his arms. Taiki sat in the chair opposite him.

"I know you're worried, but he needs time. This isn't something he's just going to get over."

"He's not going to get over anything sat moping in there," snapped Yaten. Taiki shook his head. "Don't shake your head like I'm not making sense. He is barely sleeping, barely eating, he just sits there all day, it's not healthy and you just want to leave him,"

"He needs to be alone,"  
"No, he needs to get out and start living again!" Yaten stood up, "I'm not going to lose my brother because that ditzy little blonde was to blind to see what she was missing," He started to walk back towards Seiya's room. Taiki sighed, seeing that this was only going to lead to a row, either between himself and Yaten or Yaten and Seiya, depending on whether he tried to stop him. On reflection the first option was probably the best, maybe it would rouse Seiya, at the very least get him to say something other than 'Odango'. So Taiki let his younger brother storm into Seiya's room, he did however follow him so he could make sure things didn't get out of hand.

"Right that's it get the hell up." Seiya looked up as Yaten flung his door open, his expression was practically unreadable, though there may have been a hint of surprise.

"What?"

"You heard, get away from that window," Seiya's expression didn't alter and that only fuelled Yaten's frustration. Seiya looked back at the window.

"And do what exactly,"

"I don't care, eat, go to bed, hell go out, get drunk and fall into a gutter, just do something!" Seiya didn't look back, but from his reflection Yaten could see his face tighten as if holding back tears. His own expression softened somewhat and he took a couple of steps further into the room.

"Listen, Seiya," he started, trying to bed his frustration, "You have got to stop beating yourself up about this," Seiya turned back at last, however his face now held a look of real anger.

"What if I beat you up instead, would that shut you up!" Yaten's own anger flared back up.

"At least it would get you away from that window,"  
"I'm going to throw you through that window in a minute,"

"If it would get your mind off Miss Can't see what's right in front of me. Fine. Oh wait I mean Mrs…"  
"Don't you dare bring Odango into this!"

"Why not, she's what's put you here! We're worried about you, and it's all because she's so completely blind. You have to get over her!" Seiya looked sharply away and sat back down. He looked down at his shoes.

"What if I don't want too?" Yaten sighed loudly and Taiki sensed it was time to step in before Yaten made some smart comment that would really rile Seiya. He walked in and put a hand on Yaten's shoulder signalling for him to say nothing. Yaten rolled his eyes and flicked his hair before turning and sitting on the edge of Seiya's bed.

"Seiya… much as it pains me to say it, I agree with Yaten," Seiya looked up and looked set to say something but Taiki held up a hand to stop him,

"I know that it's hard, and I don't pretend to have any idea what you're going through, but you can't just sit in the dark forever." Seiya looked down again and nodded. "There was nothing more you could have done to let her know how you felt, and she totally refused to even acknowledge your feelings. I have the highest respect for her; especially after all she has done for our Princess and us. But the fact is, she couldn't have, just, not noticed. It seems to me she just wanted to make things easier on herself, and everyone including you by playing dumb."

"Oh yeah this is really easy for me," Seiya scoffed.

"And if she had told you she knew how you felt, and that she still wanted to be with Chiba, that would have been better?"

"I get your point," Said Seiya and he turned back to the window "Now are you quite done?"

"Not quite, me and Yaten have an interview tonight, since you're still 'ill' and we have nothing in, I thought I'd ask you to don your sunglasses and go down to the shops," Yaten's eyes jerked up, finally, it was about time his elder brother started taking charge of the situation. Seiya let out a sigh, he knew both his brothers were right, the longer he sat here and wallowed in self pity the harder it would be to get back to anything that resembled normal. So he stood up and nodded.

"Right, come on Yaten, we have to be at the studio in an hour," Yaten stood and followed Taiki out of the room; he leant back into the room briefly.

"Remember what I said, about the gutter, I find it's a wonderful place to…"

"Yaten!"

He jumped out again, Seiya let the tiniest of smiles cross his face at his younger brothers actions, he was such a kid sometimes, even if he was only a year younger. It felt nice to smile again, even if just for a second, he hadn't done it for almost a month, not since he had heard about Usagi and Mamoru's wedding. He frowned again, he couldn't say he was exactly surprised, after all they'd been together so long, and what with the whole "destiny" thing it was inevitable. Still when he'd found out two weeks before the 'happy' event he still felt like someone, a small beautiful odango haired someone, had ripped out his heart and stomped on it, before throwing it into the trash. He reached for his black sunglasses and cap, his usual disguise when he was headed out into the Three Lights fan filled streets. Not that they often worked, it only took one person to get a close look at him for the rest of Juuban to know, and then he'd have to run for it. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad; at the very least his fear of being mobbed might take his mind of his other troubles for a while. By the time he'd dressed himself more appropriately for going out, Taiki and Yaten were already gone.

He pulled the door open, praying silently that he wouldn't run into the happy couple while he was out. As he stepped out of the apartment building he took a deep breath, he hadn't left the apartment in about two weeks, not since the day of the wedding, he'd had to show up, despite the fact that it churned him up inside, he knew if he wasn't their Usagi would have been hurt, and he wouldn't, he couldn't ever hurt her. So he'd been forced to sit through the torture, he had spent most of the time talking to Minako Aino, the only one who seemed to like the idea of him and Usagi together. The other scouts were extremely hostile to the possibility; the idea that someone might threaten their precious 'Crystal Tokyo' was, unthinkable. Unfortunately it didn't stop Rei Hino clinging to him at every possible opportunity. The shops were packed out, then again it was a Friday, what did he expect. He made a mental note that this would be a very short shopping trip. With a deep breath he stepped into the Supermarket, keeping his head well down.

He'd been walking around for about twenty minutes, and he was almost done, fairly soon he'd have to face the horror that was the supermarket queue, if he was going to get recognised anywhere it was there. He was just on his way there when he heard the last voice on earth he wanted to hear, second only to Mamoru Chiba.

"Well well, Seiya Kou," he turned, trying to keep his face looking calm as his eyes fell onto the figure of Haruka Tenoh.

"I didn't expect to see you out for at least another, hmm, month, month and a half,"  
He had nothing to say to _her_ so he simply acknowledged her with a "Tenoh" and turned back around. She'd been present when Usagi had told him about the wedding, and since then she wasn't about to let him forget who had "won". Since Galaxia they had come to respect each other slightly more, as soldiers, but nothing more, and she seemed delighted at the fact that her kitten as she called her had, in her opinion at least, made the right choice and she never did miss a chance to let him know about it.

"Aren't you going to ask how she is? Or are you over her already?" he stopped again and turned, the look on his face telling her clearly that he was definitely anything but over her kitten.

"Well then how is she!" he seemed to be fighting the urge to break down, and Haruka, despite her severe dislike of him was not entirely cruel, she knew rubbing it in any further would probably take him over the edge. Being herself someone that did not like to show her emotions to anyone but those close to her she suddenly felt a small pang of guilt at bringing him so close to doing exactly what she would hate, and so she said simply.

"She's good," he nodded and turned away again, this time she let him go. It was strange to her, before the fight against Galaxia she would probably have taken another stab at him, that was before she realised just how much he really loved Usagi, he proved that during the fight. However much she might hate that he tried to take Usagi and their destiny from them, she could no longer go that extra step that might break him.

Seiya however didn't realise she was being 'light' with him, on the contrary the very sight of her smug face made him want to hit something, if she weren't a girl, and despite the impression she gave she actually was one, it would probably be her he hit. He had tried and succeeded once when he was in Senshi form and it had given him, or her as it was then a feeling of satisfaction, on the other hand a moment later, Haruka, as Uranus, had thrown Fighter back with a punch of her own.

Amazingly Seiya managed to get out of the supermarket without being noticed, one of the girls at the till had given him a look that said she was sure she knew him from somewhere, however before she could figure it out he was well out of the doors and breathing a sigh of relief. He started to head back toward his car. As he rounded the corner that lead to the shops car park he realised with a jolt that he had, in his rush, left his credit card with the girl at the cash desk. "Damn!" he said out loud. She would surely have read the name on it by now. He rubbed his head in despair and went to put the shopping in his car so he could make as quick an exit as possible, and then headed back, resigning himself to the fact that he was in for a good run back.

As he came back around the corner someone else came out of nowhere and ran straight into him, whoever it was let out a cry of surprise and started to fall backwards. He shot out a hand and grabbed theirs stopping their fall. It was only then that he was able to get a look at the person. His eyes widened and he nearly fell over himself when he realised he was standing face to face, and hand in hand, with Haruka Tenoh.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon!**

**:o i know it's shocking.  
**

* * *

It took them both a few moments to comprehend what was going on, and during those moments they had still failed to release each other's hands. It was Haruka who first snapped back. She jerked her hand away, and instinctively brought it back around to slap his still outstretched hand away. 

"What the hell are you doing," she shouted, Seiya, who felt the slap, which had actually hurt, was completely uncalled for, reared in anger.

"What am I doing!" he yelled back "I was stopping you from falling… why I didn't just let you go over I have no idea. I guess I didn't realise it was you or I would have let you hit the floor and then walked away!"

"I wish you had," she growled, glaring at him, her blue eyes were practically on fire, Seiya figured that the idea that he had helped her, that she should be thankful to him, even for such a small thing was burning her up. After all the aggravation she'd put him through he couldn't help but get a sense of satisfaction from the fact. He stepped around her and started walking away.

"Maybe you should look where your going in future Tenoh," he couldn't see her but he could tell she was flaring up.

"Me! It's you who rushed out!" she yelled and turned on her heel marching away, she didn't notice that he had frozen in his tracks.

_Flashback_

"_Oh it's you again Odango hair" Seiya looked down at the pretty blonde haired girl from the day before, she was still sat on the floor after they had run into each other... literally._

"_What! Don't say that after bumping into me!" _

"_It's unsafe to walk without looking ahead," he teased and she leapt to her feet pointing a finger at him._

"_It's you who rushed out!" _

_- End -_

"You're strange," he murmured to himself as he began to move away again. That had only been the second time he'd seen her, the day before he, Taiki and Yaten had transferred to Juuban High School. It was hard to believe it had only been three years ago, so much had happened since. He had known from then that he liked her, she was cute, sweet, funny and very attractive, when exactly attraction turned to love he wasn't entirely sure, so much had been going on in his head, Galaxia, his princess, being famous, but he put it down roughly to when they had been in the baseball match together. He smiled slightly as he remembered how happy she had been when she had won the game, but the smile died again and he shook his head as he once again reminded himself that all that was over. He frowned hard, that Tenoh, she was infuriating, it seemed even when she wasn't trying to get at him about Usagi she still managed it. Sighing he stepped back into the shop and headed towards the till.

"Excuse me," the girl turned, and on seeing him stood there she jumped and nearly fell off her seat. He ignored it, "I left my card," he said not looking at her. She jumped again and reached for where she had put his card for safekeeping.

"H-Hai," She handed it to him shyly, her cheeks were bright red and people in the queue for her till were now looking at him.

"Thank you," he said and turned praying that nobody would…

"Excuse me," a little voice sounded behind him and he cringed. Turning ready to snap at whoever it was, his eyes fell on a little girl and his expression softened instantly,

"U-um," the girl gulped and looked down at the floor, she was clutching a little book. _Damn_ he thought he never could walk away from kids, it's like they had some kind of power over him. This girl had short blonde hair with a little red bow on her head, she reminded him of a small Minako, except she was obviously not so outgoing. He knelt down so his face was level with hers and gave her his best smile.

"What's your name," she looked up at him, with a little smile, and she held out the little book. "Aimi," she said quietly. He nodded and took the book from her

"That's really pretty," he said with a wink as he signed the paper. She beamed and as he handed the book back to her she clutched it to her heart.

"A-arigato," she said bowing, he smiled again and stood patting her head, earning him a round of "Ah's" from the people watching. She giggled and ran back to her mother the biggest smile on her face. He started to walk away making the most of the fact that the little girl was still close by so people wouldn't rush him all of a sudden.

He let out a sigh as he closed the door and leant against it. Taiki and Yaten were obviously not back and he wondered into the kitchen, their interview should be starting about now. He put away the shopping and then headed into the living room, turning on the television and throwing himself onto the sofa. He hadn't had far to run admittedly, but he still cursed himself for being so stupid, from now on he was always paying by cash.

The interview was nothing interesting, the usual questions; a couple were about girls, which were answered with a decisive no on both parts. Seiya rolled his eyes wondering when they were both going to give it up and admit to both being almost as hopelessly in love as he was with Usagi. All Taiki ever seemed to talk about was discussions he had had with Ami Mizuno, and there was barely a moment in the day when Yaten wasn't on the phone with or out with or talking about Mina. Honestly and they say Usagi was blind, he shook his head despairing of both his brothers.

When Taiki and Yaten came into the apartment about an hour and a half later the last thing they expected was the, unmistakable, smell of Seiya's "cooking". They both looked at each other and dashed towards the kitchen, a cloud of smoke hitting them as the opened the door to the Kitchen. Seiya was stood on a stool opening a window and trying to waft the smoke out, he turned when he heard coughing from behind him.

"Seiya, what are you doing!" Taiki said waving his hand around his face to clear the air around him.  
"I know you depressed man but there's no need to go this far, I mean you could have taken the apartment with you!" Yaten ran towards the oven to turn it off. With the windows around the kitchen all open and the smoke now clearing Seiya turned to his youngest brother.

"Very funny, as it happens I was not trying to burn the apartment to the ground, I was trying to cook something," he had his arms folded and he looked almost his old self, except the sadness was still evident behind his eyes.

"It's the same thing isn't it," Yaten grinned as Seiya aimed a friendly punch at his arm; he jumped aside and bent down to look into the oven. "And just what the hell is that," he exclaimed. Seiya blushed and muttered something inaudible. Taiki shook his head and, pulling on oven gloves, he took the, whatever it was, from the oven and dropped it in the bin.

"Well you went out then," he said as he started looking through the cupboards,

"Yeah," Seiya sighed and leant against the kitchen unit.

"It was okay then?"

"At first,"

Yaten leant next to him giving him a quizzical look.

"At first?"

"I ran into Tenoh," they all exchanged dark looks, Haruka Tenoh was bad news to run into at the best of times. "Twice," Yaten put a hand on Seiya's shoulder.

"I feel for you I really do," he said remembering that his own most recent run in with the Wind Senshi had ended with a lot of damage done to his ego.

"Yeah well I got mobbed too," his brothers both cringed "Damn my soft heart, this little girl came and asked for my autograph and I just can't say no to kids,"

"Wow, you ran in with Tenoh twice, got guilt tripped by a little girl, mobbed and then nearly had the apartment up in flames. So short of running into Chiba and Usagi your night is just about complete," summarised Yaten. Seiya nodded and rubbed his head.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep," he said.

"You're not hungry?" Taiki looked at him worriedly, "I thought you were making something to eat,"

"Taiki, you should know when Seiya cooks he can't possibly expect it to turn out edible," this comment earned him another punch on the arm.

"I was a little hungry but then, all the smoke made me feel kind of ill,"

"Not as ill as your food would… Ow that one hurt," Seiya shook his head and started to move towards the door, all he wanted to do was collapse on his bed and get some rest, even though he knew he'd be haunted by dreams of Usagi.

"Are you sure you don't want anything,"

"Look if it'll stop you worrying I'll have a banquet for breakfast I just want some sleep right now," he snapped and shut the door behind him. Taiki was still looking worried but Yaten was still grinning.

"What are you so happy about?"

"You mean you're not…?" Yaten looked at him confused.

"Should I be? He's had a really rough evening and I was the one who asked him to go."  
"If you ask me that rough evenings clicked something back into place, at least he's not a zombie anymore, for a few minutes there he was practically himself." Taiki said nothing but sighed and Yaten rolled his eyes.

"Don't you start," he said and walked out of the room, maybe he'd phone Mina, even if she had no idea what to do about the situation at the very least he could be sure of getting some kind of response which was more than he was getting around here.

- - -

When Seiya woke up the next morning and some of the previous nights dream came back to him he almost laughed. He couldn't remember much of it but he was sure there had been little Chibi Haruka's dancing around taunting him until he realised he had a fly swatter. Shaking his head, he looked at his clock, wow he'd really slept and it was almost eleven. He caught the smell of food from up the hall and for the first time in a while he felt really starved. Taking this as a good sign he pulled himself out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. As he opened his door he could hear the sound of Taiki's snores still coming from next door, he'd probably been up half the night talking to Ami on the Internet, and then spent the rest of it studying. That could only mean Yaten was the one cooking. Seiya's hunger eased a little, despite Yaten's jibes about Seiya's cooking, his wasn't much better, though it was usually made without quite so much fuss or as much smoke. Still Yaten's or not he really needed something to eat, so he made his way down the hall and towards the kitchen.

"What the hells all this for," He exclaimed as he walked into the dining room, Yaten peeped out from the kitchen and grinned. The table was piled high with what looked like a meal for ten to fifteen people.

"All what?" He asked innocently, Seiya pointed to the table and he laughed "Oh, all that… your banquet." Seiya looked at him dumbfounded, and then back at the table.

So okay he'd been intending to have a good breakfast but this was just taking the mick.

"You expect me to eat all that…"  
"Not all of it, I'll have some too and…"  
"No offence but how do I even know it's fit for consumption,"

"I resent that," a female voice came from behind Yaten and Minako Aino appeared beside him her arms folded and a very fake frown plastered across her face.

"M- Mina?"  
"What you thought I made all this myself, besides it was Mina's idea!" Seiya looked from one to the other, both of them were grinning like idiots. He sighed and pulled up a chair.

"Fine, fine," Mina clapped her hands and bounced over to take the seat across from him, whilst Yaten went to wake Taiki. On finding out that Yaten had not cooked the food it suddenly looked a lot more appetising, he knew all the girls had taken lessons from Makoto Kino and so their culinary skills were much improved, so he started to load up his plate and Mina was doing the same.

"How long have you been working on this then?" She looked up and grinned.

"I got here about nine, so almost two hours,"

"You two have been plotting again,"

She answered only with a small laugh; of the five girls she had changed the most. She was far more mature and, thankfully, less clingy and flirtatious. She had also got her act together over her dismal school grades and had come out of college with straight B's. However there were some things that had never changed, she had always kept that streak of mischievous child like energy, it was one of the things Seiya thought fitted her well with Yaten. Only the two of them could come up with this in one night and have it all done the next morning. She looked up at him from her food, her head on one side as if she were assessing him.

"So, how are you doing?" she said quietly, he didn't answer, he wasn't sure what to say, nobody, even Yaten and Taiki had actually asked him how he was and the truth was, he had no idea.

When he didn't say or do anything but stare into his food she put down her fork and her expression became sympathetic. "That good huh," he gave a small smile, and at that moment Yaten came back dragging a still sleepy Taiki with him.

"For gods sake it's almost half past eleven Taiki," Taiki grumbled about something and then looked around… his eyes widened.

"Y-Yaten? What the…"  
"Don't worry about it just sit down," Taiki sat down in the chair beside Seiya still staring at the table. Seiya patted him on the back.

"Right there with you,"

"It's nice to see our efforts so appreciated, wouldn't you say Yaten," Mina, ever the drama queen, huffed. Yaten nodded and Taiki looked up at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"When did you get here?"  
"Nine," she replied sharply and started to eat her food again.

Once they'd all finished there was still a lot left over and Mina and Taiki were sorting out the things that could be reheated and those that would have to be thrown away, while Yaten was getting in their way trying to help. Seiya, who was sat observing from a stool on the other side of the kitchen, was for what felt like the first time in forever, kind of enjoying himself. Mina and Yaten were squabbling as per usual, something to do with the interview yesterday and Yaten's answer to the question about whether he was seeing anyone, and as Taiki tried to resolve the issue he found himself shot down by a glare from one or the other or both, which was usually followed by the name Ami, which made him turn beetroot red and shut him up instantly.

- - -

Having resolved their dispute Mina and Yaten decided to go out to the arcade and to everyone's surprise Seiya decided to accompany them. Taiki was headed off to meet Ami at the Library and Seiya was certain that once he was left alone to his own thoughts his good mood would evaporate fast and in no time at all he'd be back at the window. So he tagged along with Yaten and Mina, who were happily chatting, he added his own voice to the conversation occasionally and by the time they reached the Arcade he was almost cheerful.

"Are you two quite finished,"

"I'll not be finished till she admits defeat!"  
"Never!"

Seiya sighed and looked at the two of them, they'd been racing each other for about an hour and each was taking it in turns to win then lose, and so neither would give up until one had won two consecutive games. This didn't look set to happen anytime soon so Seiya decided to give up and go get a drink.

"I'll be in the café if you two ever manage to tear yourselves away," they both nodded but wouldn't take their eyes off the game. So shaking his head he walked away towards the café. As he entered however he had the urge to turn back and return to watching his brother and Mina battle it out. Actually he might have time; maybe they hadn't noticed him… he made to turn around when.

"Seiya!" he cringed and turned back to see Rei Hino waving him over, she was sat at the scout's usual corner table, and sat with her was Makoto and Haruka. Worst of all two others with their backs to him, although he had known at once who they were, one had short raven hair and the other blonde with two dessert shaped buns on the top of her head.

* * *

**oO now whats he going to do, drinks with the woman you love and her husband, that's gotta be bad, and what will our dear friend Haruka have to say... i actually have no idea right now but i'll think it over and try to update soon. I do know one thing, this is set to be quite long, after all we can't expect Sei&Har to just drop their hatred overnight now can we. There may be a thin line between love and hate, but it's a hard one to cross and the line never runs straight. Oh dear i'm starting to sound like my mother someone stop me.  
**

**Review Please :)**

**Also incase anyone has forgotten the flashback scene is from Episode 174 or Sailor Stars Episode 8.**

**SCREAMS - sorry had to get that out, just so you all know theres going to be a bit of a delay before i can update again since my STUPID kicks computer decided to totally wipe my work, so i have to write it all out again sigh. ****  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow this took longer than expected, blame crappy technology for the wait... anywho enjoy, finally.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon, ask my mom.**

* * *

Slowly Seiya made his way over to them, praying silently that something would come up before he reached the table, _screaming fans, reporters, monster attack, apocalypse, Yaten and Mina announcing their engagement, Kami-sama give me something._

Unfortunately his prayers went unanswered and all to soon he found himself level with the table, Rei Hino immediately leaping out of her chair and grabbing his arm to pull him down to sit beside her, if it was possible Rei had, since the engagement, become even more clingy than before, he supposed this was to do with the fact that Usagi was now officially Mamoru's and she felt that this was her chance. It wasn't that he didn't like her, she was after all an amazing person, a loyal and fierce friend and just as fierce a warrior, no less from the Senshi of Mars, and she was incredibly beautiful, he just wasn't interested in her in that way. However he had more pressing concerns at the moment than worrying about her clinging. For one thing he was now sat opposite the love of his life, who was giving him her beautiful warm smile, her arm through the arm of the man beside her who was gazing down lovingly at her. On the other side of Rei sat his other problem, Haruka Tenoh.

"It's nice to see you, Seiya," He flinched slightly as if Usagi's soft quiet voice was like a knife to his heart.

"It's good to see you too Oda… Gomen Usagi," He guessed he would have to get used to calling her by her given name, after all she was no longer his Odango. She was giving him a slightly confused look; the use of her name had obviously taken her by surprise, though she said nothing. It seemed that Mamoru had not noticed anything strange and he turned to smile at Seiya.

"We didn't see you much at the wedding!"

Seiya flinched again at the very mention of the word but he forced himself to put on a small smile.

"No, well I was talking to Minako Aino, and you know her, a conversation can last forever," Mamoru nodded a knowing look on his face; Usagi however did not look entirely convinced.

"Besides," he added looking away not wanting her to suffer the sad look he knew she would be able to find behind his eyes. "I wasn't feeling so well and I went home early, I've been off work for a while," this still didn't seem to settle her, however she did at least turn her eyes away from him. An awkward silence ensued. Seiya desperately tried to avoid looking at all of them without looking like he was trying to avoid them, a difficult feat to achieve. It was Haruka Tenoh that broke the silence, clearing her throat to gain attention. Seiya groaned inwardly, he knew anything that she had to say wouldn't be something he wanted to hear; he picked up his drink.

"So, Kitten have you and Mamoru discussed when you're going to take your honeymoon," Seiya had just enough time, while the words registered, to notice Usagi turn beetroot coloured. After that however he was preoccupied with coughing violently as he had swallowed his drink extremely fast whilst trying to prevent himself from spitting it out. Haruka glanced at him trying to look concerned for the sake of appearance before her Kitten, she couldn't help but allow a small amount of triumph etch it's way onto her face as she sat back and admired her work.

Seiya was vaguely aware of Rei trying to help him. Finally when he was able to breath at a steady rate again he muttered something about swallowing too much at once before looking up. Usagi was out of her seat a look of genuine worry on her face, he felt his heart skip and he couldn't help but feel happy to see that Usagi cared about him. However he quickly assured her that he was fine, because he didn't want he to worry, he couldn't and wouldn't let her feel any pain because of him, even if she was no longer his to protect. Another awkward silence followed and Seiya looked desperately over in the direction he had come from, sadly it seemed Mina and Yaten were still in full battle mode.

"So," it was Makoto who spoke and Seiya looked round at her in surprise, she hadn't said a word since he'd arrived and he'd quite forgotten she was there. She blushed slightly when she noticed everyone had turned their attention on her, from the looks on everyone's faces they were thinking the same as Seiya.

"Um, Haruka I heard that Michiru is playing a concert soon. Don't suppose there's any chance you could pull a couple of strings and get us in huh?" she nudged the blonde with a wink. Seiya looked at Haruka, he could have sworn he noticed her stiffen slightly at the mention of Michiru, he knew that look well, it was the same one he often wore if someone started talking about Usagi, was there something wrong between Haruka and Michiru? He pushed that thought away, no way; those two were solid… weren't they?

"I don't know, I can certainly ask," there was definitely no mistaking that slight coldness in her voice, and yet nobody else seemed to notice.

"I haven't seen Michiru in a while," Said Usagi,

"Michi has been… busy," there was definite bitterness, Seiya knew it all too well, something was wrong, he looked over at Usagi, if anyone would notice a friend in distress it would be her. She was smiling serenely and looking at Haruka, Seiya however knew her too well to take her at face value and he could see behind her perfect crystal blue eyes a hint of worry. It was this worry that stopped him from saying anything. In normal circumstances if she weren't there, he would almost certainly have made a jibe at the conceited blonde, especially after what she had said just a few minutes before. However he knew if he upset Haruka in front of Usagi she would be upset with him and he couldn't face that. So he stayed silent.

"Still," Haruka sounded brighter "I'm sure she'd love to see you all so I'll see what I can do about those tickets,"

"Hey!" Seiya's head jerked around as a very happy looking Mina came running over, by the look on her face and the very dejected looking Yaten who was walking behind her it wasn't very difficult to work out who won the war.

Seiya immediately stood pulling his arm out of Rei's grip and offered Mina his place. Mina grinned at him.

"You don't have to get up you know," Still she took the seat anyway.

"It's fine I have to go anyway, things to do,"

"Yeah me too," Piped up Yaten, Mina frowned at him.

"You were telling me you had all day just a few minutes ago,"

"Well I lied," he said frowning back. Seiya started to back away,

"Yeah, yeah, you're just bitter that you lost to a girl and you need to go sulk," chirped back Mina. Yaten looked ready to snap back but Seiya turned him around and started pushing him outside.

"See you," he called as they exited the Arcade.

"Well that couldn't have gone much worse," sighed Seiya. Yaten also sighed.

"Yeah… I've never lost two games in a row to anyone, let alone a girl" Seiya gave him a strange look, "Oh yeah, Usagi sorry," Seiya shook his head.

"Look, Seiya, we've got a recording on Tuesday, and we're going to have to cancel if your not there, you being the lead vocals and all… why don't you come, it might take your mind off things." Seiya thought about it, and then nodded. After all he'd been off work for a month now, he should really get back or he was going to drag Yaten and Taiki down with him. Besides maybe it would help.

"That's great, and maybe we can go out somewhere after," Seiya nodded again, although he wasn't really listening anymore.

"Cool, and after that we'll dress you in a pink tuxedo, marry you to Mina and send you to Mars," Seiya nodded again.

"Seiya!"

He snapped his head around "What?"  
"You're not listening!"  
"I am?"

"So you actually do want to marry Mina in a pink tuxedo and go to Mars?"

"Er, Mars is nice this time of year?"

"Seiya…"  
"Okay sorry,"

As strange as it might seem, Yaten was actually right for once. Going to the recording studio had really helped. There was something about being able to get lost in the songs, to put everything into his singing that really lifted a weight from Seiya's mind. He was able to pour all his caged emotions into the recording and it made for a very good session. Needless to say everyone was very glad to see him back, and seemingly better than ever.

As they finished their last recording of the day there was a loud squeal and some clapping and a familiar excitable blonde came running in.

"You guys are as amazing as ever," She squeaked.

"Mina what are you doing here," Choked Yaten as she pulled him into a tight hug. Letting go she danced back a couple of steps.

"I finished my own recording a little early, so I came to hear you!"

"I thought I specifically asked for no crazed fans to be allowed in this place," Groaned Yaten walking past her. Seiya and Taiki just laughed as Mina skipped after him.

"Oh but I'm not just any crazed fan." She said in a sing-song voice.

"Well Yaten, where are we going now?" Said Taiki, he didn't particularly want to go out; his idea of 'out' was the library or some museum or cultural site. It was definitely not the same as Yaten's idea. However both he and Seiya had agreed to going somewhere and they guessed they should follow through on their agreement.

"Oh I know a really nice place," Piped up Mina.

"Who said you were coming?" Said Yaten frowning. She simply stuck her tongue out at him and hmmphed. Seiya shook his head at the two of them…

"Well then Mina, where's this nice place you mentioned," He said causing Yaten to roll his eyes, an Mina to smile widely and tap her nose, "It's a surprise,"

Seiya wished for a moment that he hadn't said anything, but he had and it was a bit late now, he'd just have to hope the place wasn't quite as wild as Mina.

* * *

"Well?" Said Mina, smiling at them. 

"It's kind of dull," Said Yaten flicking his hair and yawning as he leaned back in his chair.

"I like it," Said Seiya looking around, the place was definitely a surprise, at least to anyone who knew Mina. It was small and fairly quiet; not to busy and was in a fairly quiet part of town, which was nice because it meant that even if they were recognised, they weren't likely to get mobbed by screaming teenage girls. It was a lot more sophisticated.

"I do too," Said Taiki who glad of the quiet music and the absence of flashing lights. He got enough of that at their concerts.

Mina beamed at the two of them, "I'll bet you thought you were getting dragged to some crazy nightclub,"

"No!" Said Seiya, a little too quickly and all three raised an eyebrow at him. He just shrugged and went back to his drink. Mina sighed and sat back.

"I thought you guys would just want to relax. I always come here when I want to think,"

"You mean you actually manage that occasionally?" Yaten's comment earned him a punch on the arm from Mina. "Yes actually, you forget Seiya's feast on Sunday was my idea," Seiya smiled slightly, that had certainly been a surprise.

"Well I'm glad we came here… I for one won't deny I was worried about you leading the way Mina," Said Taiki, Mina grinned mischievously.

Yaten yawned again and they all rolled their eyes at him and Seiya threw a piece of the giant cookie he'd bought at him.

"Hey!"

After another hour of chatting and laughing. Yaten finally annoyed them all so much with his constant yawning that he got his wish and they got up to leave.

"Finally," Said Yaten with a flick of his hair.

"You're insufferable," Said Mina poking him hard on the shoulder.

"That's a long word Mina, where'd you learn it," he said, earning him another poke.

"The back of a matchbox, where else,"

Seiya and Taiki walked ahead leaving the two to bicker amongst themselves. They had finally stopped and rejoined the other two by the time the reached the guys apartment block. Mina followed them towards the door but Yaten stopped her.

"Woh… where are you headed," She gave him an innocent look and pointed to the apartment block.

"Oh no, turn around," He grabbed her shoulders and span her around, giving her a little nudge forward. "Home, now"

"But," he pointed in the direction of the gate.

"No buts, home," She turned and pouted, he just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on, you wouldn't make a beautiful young girl walk home on her own would you? It's dark," She batted her eyelashes at him.

He growled, "Fine, I'll drive you,"

She squeaked and threw her arms around him. He pushed her off but both Taiki and Seiya noticed the faint tinge of pink to his usually pale face.

"Yeah, yeah just get in the car quickly I want to get some sleep." She ran off and he gave his brothers a look that dared them to make a single comment. Both held there hands up but grinned like idiots as he stalked away.

A couple of weeks passed without much excitement, college was back in session and so all the girls and Taiki were busy studying. Which left Seiya with nobody but Yaten for company. This was enough to drive him crazy at the best of times, but recently Yaten's only conversation piece seemed to be just how annoying Mina was. Seiya was beginning to despair of his youngest brother, he couldn't tell whether he was simply denying it, or whether he was actually so dumb that he was clueless to the fact that he was head over heels for the ditzy blonde.

Whenever Seiya got completely fed up with Yaten, which was quite often, he had found the best place to go was the little café that Mina had taken to them before, she'd been right about it being a great place to just sit and think.

Seiya was on his way there once again after Yaten had entered the kitchen earlier that morning a look on hi face that clearly said he needed to vent. So Seiya had made himself scarce. He hadn't had a very good nights sleep, his dreams as per usual had rotated around Usagi, and he had a headache which only made everything that extra bit worse, so what he needed least was Yaten piling his emotional baggage on him as well so that he didn't have to deal with it himself.

Seiya walked into the café and immediately noticed a familiar group of girls, Mina, Rei, Makoto and Ami, were sat at a table near the centre of the room. He groaned, the last thing he needed second to Yaten's emotional baggage, was Rei Hino clinging to his arm like a crazed limpet. He thought about turning back around, however whatever it was they were talking about they looked very concerned and deeply involved in the conversation. They'd probably not notice him. As he walked from the entrance he wondered what they were talking about, if it was a threat they'd surely have contacted him and Yaten and Taiki. Oh well if it was any of his business Mina would let him know. He managed to pass their table and for a moment he thought he'd got away, unfortunately, a second later…

"Seiya," Rei's voice hissed, strange in itself Rei was usually much louder. When he turned back around he noticed both Rei and Mina stood up beckoning him over silently. First Rei, now Mina, if these too were being quiet it must be serious, so he made his way over.

"What's up?"

"Er," Mina glanced around at the others, "I don't think it's a good idea to go over to bar right now," he gave her a strange look.

"Why not?"

"Haruka's there…" He raised an eyebrow.

"Okay… I know we don't exactly get on, but we're hardly going to kill each other in a crowded restaurant… to many witnesses you know,"

Mina bit her lip, "It's just, well she's biting everyone's head off, even people she doesn't know… so…"  
"Oh really, so… what's new?"

Makoto frowned at him, "Seiya, just trust us, and don't go over," she said. Seiya shook his head.

"I have no idea what you girls are talking about, what I do know is I need a drink and some time to myself, so unless you can give me one hell of a reason I'm going…" he turned to leave.

"Michiru left her," Snapped Rei, Seiya spun back around and Rei clapped a hand to her mouth, whilst Mina slapped her around the head.

"Rei no Baka!" she growled.

* * *

**oO well that's interesting isn't it, and we all thought Haruka and Michiru were unbreakable. Well not in my world Mwahaha. **

**I promise to try and get to the point of the story and put in some more Seiya/Haruka interaction in the next chapter, not right now though cos i've just taken the last 2 hours retyping this chapter after my computer wiped it.**

**Anywho, please review please, constructive criticism very welcome, i don't for one second think my writing is perfect so i appreciate any advice to make it better.**

**Okay i've rambled enough for tonight. Love ya's**


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh dear it appears i left you all out on the edge... again. Anyway i tried to be as quick as i could writing this chapter without making it seem rushed.**

**Disclaimer - The fluffy pink bunnies with the laser gun have asked me to say that i don't own Sailor Moon.**

**

* * *

**

"W-What?" Seiya sputtered while Rei's eyes continued to widen and tears began to form. Mostly due to the betrayal of her friends secret, but also because Mina's slap had been very painful. Mina was now rubbing her head and looking quite lost. This was exactly the worst thing that could happen. After years of torment from Haruka, Seiya could hardly be expected to hold back, he'd probably march himself over there any second. She glanced up towards the bar, then flinched and felt her face burn as she realised Haruka's gaze was fixed on their group. She turned quickly away.

Seiya was still reeling from the news, okay so a few weeks ago he'd noticed something was up, but he'd put that down to simply a lovers tiff, nothing so serious as this.

"Why?" he said loudly, Mina and the others immediately shushed him and Makoto pulled him down into a seat beside them,

"Not so loud!" She hissed, "Rei's already proven what a loud mouth can achieve," Rei went even redder.

"Things like this don't just happen!" Seiya hissed back.

"You weren't meant to know anything about it in the first place, which is why we tried to stop you going over," Piped up Ami,  
"Well you've told me now, you might as well explain!" he chanced a quick look over at the bar, but recoiled sharply on noticing that Haruka was glaring daggers in their direction. Mina sighed and put her head in her arms on the table.

"Promise me you won't make a jibe, at least not today…" Seiya raised an eyebrow, but he was eager to understand what had caused the unbreakable couple to shatter so suddenly and so he nodded.

"I won't jibe unless she lays into me," Mina sighed, knowing that was the best she was going to get.

"Alright, well we don't know much but from what she's yelled at us and others we figure this much… that Michiru came in earlier this morning after being out all night, and suddenly announced she was leaving. From what we gather the two have been arguing a lot recently but still it was a shock… anyway Michiru said she was with someone else…"  
"Someone else?" Seiya wasn't sure whether or not to be surprised, after all his own experience had taught him that Michiru was often flirtatious, however he'd heard that Haruka was just the same and it had never gone further than flirting for either.

"A man, and that's all we know she hasn't gone into any detail…" Said Rei quietly. They all sat in silence for a while. Seiya wasn't sure how to feel… after all this was the woman who'd belittled him and gone to every length to keep him from Usagi, and when she'd succeeded had put a lot of effort into rubbing it in, and yet he couldn't help but feel slightly, ever so slightly, sorry for her. After all he could identify with the pain, to know that the one you loved had someone else.

He got up and began to walk away.

"Seiya?" and Mina stood sharply knocking her chair over, "Where are you going?" she didn't bother picking it up.

"To the bar where else,"

"You said you wouldn't…"  
"I never said anything of the sort," He marched right up to the bar, leant on it and ordered his drink, pretending that he had no idea he was stood beside the glaring figure of Haruka. He could feel her eyes stabbing him repeatedly. He wasn't going to say anything, just like he promised; he always kept his word. But still he really did need a drink… and maybe a little part of him hoped that Haruka would offload her anger on him so he could have a good go back, without feeling guilty.

"Come to gloat I guess Kou," she said, the tone was new to Seiya; whenever they'd spoken she was always so cocky and strong, now her voice was quiet and cracked. Not showing his surprise, not even looking at her Seiya answered.

"I came for a drink,"

Haruka smirked and cleared her throat.

"What… not one little mocking observation, no sarcastic remark?" Seiya stayed silent, she was trying to rile him, trying to start an argument, trying to vent her anger on him. Well if she wanted to vent she'd have to do it herself, because despite the fact that he would have liked nothing better than to offload his frustration, he was also well aware that the scouts were watching him closely.

Haruka was more annoyed by his silence than anything, he wasn't giving her any reason to be angry, and that made her a hundred times angrier than any remark would have. He knew perfectly just how fast she was boiling up, she knew that he had done nothing to warrant being yelled at, and yet that was all she wanted to do, she wanted him to give her a reason, and so he wouldn't give her one.

Instead he simply collected his drink and went to sit back with the scouts. Mina sighed with relief as he sat back down.

"What?" he looked at her pretending to be hurt, "You thought I'd break my promise… Mina I thought you knew me better,"

"I'm sorry but I do know you, and I know Haruka, and I know what you two get like, and with her in this state, I think an argument might end in your demise,"

"I can handle it Mina you worry to much,"  
"We're all worried," Said Ami looking down at the table, "I've never seen Haruka like this before,"

The scouts talked about it for a while longer, Seiya wondered briefly whether they'd discussed him like this when he'd disappeared into the apartment for two weeks, he remembered that they'd come over to see him, but he still wasn't in a state to face talking with anyone. After a while he became bored with the conversation and decided that maybe listening to Yaten moan about Mina would be more interesting. So he stood and bade goodbye to the girls and walked out of the café, heading back home.

* * *

As he headed down one of the back alleys he often used to avoid being seen on his way back he became suddenly aware that someone was walking behind him. He turned his head briefly and saw a tall blonde haired, rather dishevelled looking woman.

"What do you want Tenoh?" He said turning around. She was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.

"I said what do you want? Why the hell are you following me,"

"This happens to be my way home!" She spat and walked a little closer,

"If your looking for an argument, I'm not in the mood!"  
"Oh I'm sorry I'll come back when it's more convenient shall I?" She glared at him,

"You in my way Kou," Seiya didn't move, okay he'd promised not to make a remark, but he hadn't said he would take orders.

"I suggest you move," She said threateningly. Seiya shook his head and couldn't help allowing a small smirk to cross his face.

"It hurts doesn't it, having nothing to relieve the anger onto,"

"Shut up!"

"You don't order me around Tenoh!"

"This is all your fault!" She practically screamed. That was enough for Seiya, he'd sworn to say nothing as long as she didn't push him, and she'd just gone way beyond his line of patience!

"My fault? Sorry to disappoint you Tenoh but I'm not the one that hopped into bed with Michiru!" he kept his voice perfectly calm, and this only served to frustrate Haruka even more.

"All this started when YOU arrived!" She was still shouting at the top of her voice,

"You know what's really funny…" He smirked again, "The fact that the one person you know that might understand how you're feeling, is the one you want to lay all the blame on, the one you seek out to vent your anger,"

"Don't you dare," Her voice went low and dangerous, "Don't you dare compare my love for Michiru with your childish crush on our Princess… it was that which started all this anyway!"

Seiya couldn't keep the angry shake from his voice any longer, "Are you that narrow minded. You think you're the only one capable of loving someone that deeply!"

"You don't know love… You don't deserve it, and you don't deserve my princess,"  
Something suddenly clicked into place in Seiya's mind. _My_ princess?

"Maybe I don't deserve her, that doesn't mean I don't love her with all my soul," It was Haruka's turn to smirk.

"I give it three months before you're off and 'in love' with someone else. The sooner the better I think, once your over her then the rest of us can get on with our lives a little more peacefully,"  
"And what about you, are you going to get over her,"  
"I don't need to, I'll get Michi back,"

Seiya shook his head, "I wasn't talking about Michiru, I'm talking about Usagi," Haruka's smirk vanished instantly and was replaced with a look of shock.

"What?"  
"You think I'm stupid… you think that Michiru is stupid?" he said,

"You have no idea what you're talking about,"  
"No see I think I do… and I think that Michiru knows too. You said this all started when I came, when I started chasing Usagi. You hated me long before you knew I was a Senshi, long before anyone else, and I think Michiru noticed that. I think she noticed the cute little pet names, the looks you gave your princess and I think she noticed how far you would go, what you would sacrifice to protect her. I think there were days when she wondered whether you would put Usagi before her,"  
"I would never sacrifice Michiru," snapped Haruka, "Never!"

"Never? Not even for the sake of your precious Kitten, your princess. You know what Tenoh, Michiru didn't leave you because of my brothers, or me, or even just because of her, but because of you. She left because she was giving you all her heart and you; you were still giving half of yours to your princess."

Haruka's fist made sudden sharp contact with Seiya's face, and it sent him reeling backwards. As he straightened up and wiped some blood from his lip he realised that Haruka's actions had just confirmed everything he had said, he hadn't even believed half of what he was saying, but it all made sense.

Haruka felt like she did after a race, her heart was pumping and her breathing was sharp and fast. She realised that Seiya was staring at her wide-eyed, and she knew suddenly that she had just confirmed his theory, and she hadn't even realised it until now. There was something strange about the look he was giving her, it was almost as if he felt sorry for her. A knot in stomach tightened, he couldn't be sorry for her, she wouldn't let him, she couldn't bare pity from this man. She glared at him and clenched her fist again.

"She left because your love wasn't all hers and it killed her, it drove her crazy, and it drove her into someone else arms." Looking at her expression he suddenly understood and his voice had softened, "Did you even realise?" Haruka looked down at the floor and her fists clenched tighter.

"How long Haruka?" Her head jerked at the sound of her name, his eyes were searching her face "How long have you loved your princess?"

Haruka stood a few moments her eyes darting back and forth as if looking for an escape, and then she sank to her knees and suddenly did something she had never done before except around Michiru and even then rarely. She cried.

Seiya was in shock; he'd always wondered… it had always been a possibility. After all Haruka had given her own life and the lives of her fellow Senshi to save Usagi against Galaxia.

From Haruka's reaction she had long been denying it to herself, what he had said had broken through her well placed barriers, she'd locked off her feelings channelling them into anger and letting them out on any enemy that dared try to harm her princess. She'd probably even convinced herself, but not Michiru. Michiru must have known, she was highly intelligent and knew Haruka better than she even knew herself.

Now staring at the wreck in front of him, Seiya didn't know what to feel, pity, strangely enough was the thing that clamoured for most attention. Okay so he didn't like her, scratch that he really despised her. But this wasn't her, whoever this person was it wasn't Haruka Tenoh, the woman that showed no fear, no pain, no emotion, the woman he'd thought was a guy when he first met her, the strong soldier that had fought so fiercely against Galaxia, she'd just vanished and left behind this fragile quivering shell. He was about to turn away when a small voice came from her.

"You…" She stopped as her voice cracked. She stood up keeping her head down; her pride had been shattered. Seiya tried to fight the urge to apologise, he had his own pride after all, but it was no use; that nagging little good part of him called conscience had beaten him down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was talking about I…"

"You're right," She said to the ground, "And to answer your question…" she paused for a moment and then looked him in the eye, her own eyes still holding tears.

"Forever,"

Then she turned on her heel and walked slowly down the alley in the opposite direction, leaving Seiya to simply stare after her in surprise.

* * *

"You look like you slammed into a wall," Yaten watched as Seiya collapsed onto the sofa.

"If only that were all, it would make so much more sense," Sighed Seiya his hand over his eyes, but he just couldn't erase the image of Haruka from his mind, he'd never seen anyone so broken since their princess had died to save them three years before. Yaten had walked over and was staring worriedly down at him.

"You didn't run into Usagi did you…?" Seiya shook his head and Yaten's worried look became slightly confused… "Mamoru?"

Seiya shook his head again and Yaten sat down beside him, "Okay I give up,"

"Tenoh,"  
"What? What's she done to get you into this state," Seiya stared at him for a moment, could he trust him not to mention it to her… he knew the answer to that, hell no. Still.

"It's more what I've done to her, I said some stuff… I really shouldn't have,"  
"Well if you ask me there's nothing to bad you can say about Haruka Tenoh, and if there is it would just bounce off her," Yaten said matter of factly, then seeing that Seiya was still looking the same he rolled his eyes, "Don't beat yourself up, whatever you said she probably deserved it,"

"Maybe she did, maybe she didn't… I don't even know… does someone deserve to know a truth that might break them, from someone they hate."

"Man, I have no idea what you're babbling about but…" There was suddenly a loud bang on the door.

"Who's that!?" Yaten growled and walked over to the door throwing it open, "Mina!" Seiya froze as a very angry looking Mina came into view, she must have spoken to Haruka… he was dead; he knew it.

**

* * *

**

**Also as always any _constructive _criticism is welcome, i'm always trying to make my writing better **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon - How many times must i say it damnit.**

**Well girls and boys here's chapter five... enjoy.**

* * *

"SEIYA KOU!"

Seiya leapt off the sofa and started to back away.

"Mina. What er… what are you doing here…"

"I've just seen Haruka… What the hell have you said…"  
"Well I," His back came up against the apartment wall and he felt cut off and vulnerable in the wake of Mina's anger.

"That's the last time I ever take your word for anything,"  
"Come on give me a break…"  
"I'll give you a break!" She growled "Where would be most painful?"

"Okay, okay," Yaten stood in front of Seiya, from behind him he could see that Mina was now giving Yaten a glare that would make most men tremble and step aside automatically. Yaten however, though he shrunk back slightly, held his ground.

"I don't know what's going on, but…"  
"There's practically no Haruka left," Yelled Mina "I stopped her to talk to her and she had this glazed empty look in her eyes, which for your information looked as if she'd been crying for weeks, she didn't say a word, she just walked away midway through my sentence,"

"Well how do you know it was Seiya's fault,"  
"Who else would do it? He's the only other person besides the other scouts and myself that even knows,"

"Knows what?"  
"None of your business…" She snapped and pushed him to one side, and Seiya cringed, when she spoke she had lowered her voice, which would have been a relief except now the tone was disappointed and it made Seiya feel even worse.

"Seiya you promised me! You told me you wouldn't say anything" Seiya's head was a mad mixture of guilt and anger at these words. Anger won through first.

"I believe my promise was not to say anything, if she didn't…and she practically seeked me out to start a fight, and then blamed me for all her problems" He said clenching his fist, then he looked at the floor as the guilt part of him took over, "I… didn't mean to go so far…"

"What did you say," Mina's voice was practically a whisper by now. "What could you have told her to break her in half like that…"  
"I… told her the truth… a truth I don't think she even knew,"

Yaten was staring from one to the other, utterly confused. He'd never seen Mina so angry.

Mina looked at Seiya, searching his eyes as if she thought she could relive the entire event through them. After a few moments she drew back slightly, folded her arms and sighed.

"Well, I haven't got the faintest idea what you've done,"

"I…"  
"But, whatever it was your going to go apologise,"

Both Seiya and Yaten were looking at her as if she'd just grown a tail, she couldn't honestly be serious.

"Your kidding… you expect him to apologise to her… after everything she's done to him," Yaten was pointing at Seiya who was still staring. Mina turned her frown onto Yaten.

"Maybe _he_ should learn to be the bigger person… besides I believe I already told you this is **not **your business!" Seiya blinked and Yaten looked dumbfounded, Mina had never spoken to anyone, let alone Yaten, like that as far as they knew.

"You can't think for a minute I'm just going to march myself over to… wherever it is that she lives and come back alive."

"Well not right away!" Snapped Mina, "Give her a few days to calm down and get herself together,"

"I already apologised to her," Snapped back Seiya, who had just remembered how the conversation had ended, "But she…"  
"Well you're damn well going to apologise again!"

"And what good will that do?"

"Well for starters it might make her feel better… besides it's about time you two tried to put your differences aside and started at least being vaguely nice to one another!"

"Have you told her this?"

"No… she hardly needs another person to have a go at her at the moment! She's going through a really tough time at the mo…!"  
"And I wouldn't know anything about that!" Seiya said bitterly, he folded his arms and looked away from Mina who had stopped in her tracks, her mouth half open. She put her head down slightly and sighed again.

"I hope you haven't forgotten that it was her that made every effort to rub in the fact that I had to watch the girl I love walk down the aisle to be with another man."

Mina looked right down at the floor and shook her head.

"No Seiya… I'm sorry… It's just that, well I do understand… and I think that's the reason you need to step up, because you know what she's going through and… I think deep down she knows that too. Maybe if you show her that you're willing to at least be civil then… both of you can heal properly, without snapping at each others heels all the time and making it worse."

Seiya frowned slightly, he knew that Mina had a point, and he also knew why she had come to him; there was no way on gods green earth, that Haruka Tenoh would make the first move to apologise to anyone. The problem was he didn't relish the idea of having to apologise to the woman who'd tried to make his life hell, and was still a little terrified of being ripped limb from limb the moment Haruka opened the door.

The three of them stood in silence for a while. Yaten was still extremely confused on three counts. One was what on earth had happened between Seiya and the Wind Senshi to get Mina this mad, the second, why did Seiya look willing to compromise and how had he come to feel sorry for Haruka Tenoh and the third and most confusing of all was why he was suddenly contemplating how good Mina looked when she was angry.

Mina was feeling a little bad about how she had acted, but also quite pleased with the result, certainly Seiya looked like he was considering the idea of apologising and trying to be civil with Haruka, so far all was going to plan. Seiya himself was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Did he chance being murdered on sight by Haruka if he went to apologise to her, or did he chance being murdered on sight by Mina if he didn't? All in all it was a very confused silence that Taiki found himself walking into.

* * *

A few days later Seiya took several deep breaths and wondered silently to himself how the hell he'd been talked into this. As he stared at the door in front of him and the rain poured down on his head, he thought, for what had to be the first time in a long time, that he should have listened to Yaten's advice and just steered well clear. But instead he'd done the stupid thing and signed his own death warrant. Slowly he raised a hand and, taking one last deep breath, he knocked hard. 

When after a few minutes there was no response Seiya allowed the breath he'd been holding out, he couldn't help but feel relieved. It wasn't his fault if she didn't answer the door. He was about to turn away when, to his disappointment, he heard someone behind the door fiddling with the lock and a few seconds later it was wide open framing a very confused looking Haruka. As he just stood there her confused look soon turned to one of annoyance.

"What?" She said finally in a frustrated tone when he didn't say anything. Evidently her barriers were back in place, she simply looked annoyed, not broken… Seiya wasn't sure which would be better for what he had come to say.

"I…" He turned around fully trying to think of exactly what it was Mina had advised him to say. He could see her getting more frustrated by the second.

"Look if you came to…"

"I just came to talk," he said before she could get any further.

"So talk!" She snapped.

"Um… could I come in it's kind of wet out here…?" he said motioning to the almost black sky. She stared at him in silence for a few moments and then rolled her eyes and moved aside so he could enter. As he went passed her he murmured thanks. Silently he was thinking _so far so good, I still have all my limbs intact at least. _

She lead the way silently into a large kitchen and pointed at a stool which he promptly sat on, he was slightly confused as to why she hadn't just made him talk in the hallway but he didn't ask.

"Do you want anything…"  
"What… well yeah like I said I came to…"  
"I meant to drink!" She said quickly with what looked like a very painful polite expression that confused Seiya as much as the offer itself. He wasn't sure what to say, he wasn't sure if she was kidding.  
"Do you want anything or not?" She snapped, the expression becoming one of annoyance.

"No…no I'm fine!" he said quickly. She pulled out another stool and sat down opposite him.

"So… talk!"

Seiya silently cursed Mina for putting him into this situation, but a promise was a promise and she already felt he'd broken one this week.

"I came… to apologise…" He tried looking at her but her stare was piercing and it was much more comfortable to look at the table. "For what I said on Thursday evening,"

He chanced another look at her but her expression was still the same.

"So," She said, leaning back slightly "Mina got to you too," Ignoring the still unchanged expression Seiya looked up in surprise and straight into her face.

"You mean she talked to you too," _That explains why she's being so polite… by her standards anyway_.

"First thing this morning!" she said matter of factly.

"She told me she wouldn't say anything to you,"

"Told me the same thing, still I figured it out when I saw you standing outside." She said waving her hand, "One minute she's making me swear to be more civil to you and then four hours later low and behold you turn up on my doorstep… coincidence?"

"She practically threatened me with murder,"

"Gave me the puppy dog eyes… I should have known then she was plotting something!"

"She talks sense sometimes… but she's still not the sharpest tool," Muttered Seiya making a mental note to give Mina a long lecture on hypocrisy.

"Agreed, I…" she stopped and looked a little confused, her expression matched Seiya's. It was strange to think that this was the longest conversation they'd ever had with each other; that wasn't a shouting match. Both could suddenly see where this was going. It was all looking very much like Mina had set them both up on purpose to create common ground.  
Seiya allowed a small smile to cross his face.

"That Mina… not as dumb as we thought," he said, "Really thought this one out…" Haruka seemed to be fighting the urge to smile as well. They sat in what was a strangely comfortable silence for a few minutes when the doorbell suddenly rang through the house. Haruka left her seat and walked out of the room leaving Seiya to think about exactly what to do about Mina when he next saw her. She'd probably avoid him for a few days. He vaguely heard the door open and then close a few seconds later and what sounded like footsteps up the stairs but he wasn't paying much attention. He simply stared into space wondering if he should excuse himself, after all he'd done what he intended and there was no reason forcing his presence here any longer.

He was just walking towards the kitchen door and out into the hall, when he heard a loud crash from upstairs. As he came out into the hall, a pretty woman in a white dress came rushing past, not even noticing him, her wavy teal hair flowing behind her, she was carrying what appeared to be a small suitcase. As the door slammed shut he distinctly heard a sob escape her. This was echoed with another sob that sounded like it came from upstairs. Seiya cringed and growled to himself, he knew what he was about to do could very easily get him thrown out of a window, but he was going to do it anyway, and with that he headed up the stairs in the direction of the sobbing.

Haruka stared at the scattered pieces of the vase that she had knocked so violently to the floor in her sadness and anger as Michiru had closed the door on her. It struck her that Michiru had always hated it, but it had been a present from an admirer of her music and she had been far too polite to throw it away. She was so always polite… she was also kind… graceful, beautiful… and gone.

Haruka jumped at the knock on her door and for a fleeting moment thought it might be Michiru.

"Hey Tenoh… um" Seiya… she'd completely forgotten him, "I… er… Are you okay," Seiya had thought it best to knock rather than simply walk in.

Haruka began furiously wiping her tears. She couldn't quite believe that the two times in her life that she really broke down and cried, were the two times she was around Seiya Kou. She just couldn't let him of all people see her like this. There was another knock on the door.

"Go away Kou!" She yelled furiously. The knocking stopped abruptly and she collapsed backwards onto her bed, closing her eyes and sighing, she curled up pulling one of the pillows towards her and hugging it tight.

It was another half an hour before she uncurled and walked towards the mirror, her eyes were still slightly red, but it was nothing noticeable. Maybe some fresh air would help. Her mind flitted to her car; she had always been able to jump behind the wheel and just drive, outrunning her troubles. The difference was, she had always had Michiru sitting beside her, her long hair blowing back in the breeze. Haruka looked out of the window, the car was exactly where it always was, but for the first time in her life she didn't think it would be enough to simply run away from the pain.

She opened the bedroom door and jumped back in shock to see that Seiya was sat across the hall leaning with his back against the wall. She quickly regained herself and frowned as he started to get to his feet.

"Finally I was going to give it five more minutes and then I was coming in," He said with a bored tone, she frowned harder.

"And why the hell would you want to do that… and what are you still doing here anyway," She snapped and he shrugged.

"I guess I was worried what Mina and the others would do to me if they knew I'd been here and you'd done something stupid,"

"Well thank you for your concern," She said sarcastically… when he still didn't move she rolled her eyes and pointed at herself, "Well as you can see I'm fine… you can go now,"

"Come on… I think we both now you're far from fine."

"Even if I was, you are the last person I'd talk about it with Kou." She snapped, "Now will you just go!"

"Alright… but you should call someone…Setsuna maybe… trust me, you shouldn't be alone in this!" Haruka felt a little disturbed by the sincerity in his voice.  
"Why do you care all of a sudden?" she said suspiciously,

"Because we have more in common than you care to admit… and believe it or not, I know I've been through the same thing!" and, not waiting for a response, he turned and walked down the hall towards the stairs.

"Seiya!" he stopped in surprise and turned to find her standing in the middle of the corridor, her arms folded.

"What?" He asked.

"I guess… I'll take your advice and call Suna," she said with difficulty, he stood there for a second and then simply nodded and continued down the corridor.

As he closed the front door behind him he stood there a moment and took a deep breath, the rain had finally stopped. _Right _he thought to himself _now to find Mina!_

* * *

**_Hmm not sure what to make of this chapter... it worked out better than i thought._**

**_Anywho the next chapter might take a while since i'm having a case of writers block 'bangs head on keyboard'_**

**_As always advice/criticism is welcome... but praise and love is even more welcome :) which reminds me: Thank you all so far for your lovely comments, i really value your opinions and they really help to inspire me to keep on writing. So i hope i can keep this as a really good story for you too enjoy._**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about the late update, what with one thing and another, exams, back to college, coursework, thunderstorms and powercuts, and then actually trying to write it. It's all been very headachey this last week.**

**Anyway as always i don't own Sailor Moon which sucks but i'm used to it.**

**So enjoy xP**

* * *

The apartment was empty when Seiya returned, for this he was thankful, he didn't need Yaten and Taiki's questions right now. He was still reeling slightly as to coming out of that place without a scratch; and even more confusing, on the best terms he'd ever been with Haruka Tenoh since the few minutes after the battle with Galaxia... apparently her gratitude for helping to save her world didn't stretch as far as putting up with the three of them remaining on earth. Admitted both had been following orders from a certain hyperactive blonde, but even so, Usagi had more than once asked them to be civil to each other and even on her request Seiya had found it far more difficult than that day. 

He reasoned that it had something to do with both knowing roughly what the other was going through, but he didn't want to linger on the subject, the very idea that he had something in common with Haruka was a definite sign that the world was about to turn upside down.

Sighing and shaking his head he sat down at the dining room table, pulled the paper he had left there towards him and tried to focus on the song he had been trying to write. It was strange to be trying to write songs again, he hadn't really done much for the last year, as a result their more recent songs had been written by someone else and people had noticed the difference. They hadn't lost any fans, though they did occasionally get letters asking about the sudden change.

He thought it best to try to get back into it, writing had always been an outlet for what he was feeling, something Taiki understood, though he poured it all into small poems or hid it behind figures and certainty. Yaten, naturally, just didn't get it at all. It seemed strange on reflection that someone with the power of empathy, who could feel every star seed in the galaxy, and sense the emotions of others, could be so… un-empathic when it came to his own feelings. He turned his attention to the blank page in front of him and wrote a few words before scribbling them out again.

He did this again and again until he filled the page and simply screwed it up, this happened many times and by the time Taiki walked through the apartment door the paper was practically spilling out into the hall.

"You know that's a waste of good paper," he said with a hint of amusement.

"So sue me!" Growled Seiya not looking up, he was sure song writing had never taken him this long before. Taiki simply shook his head slightly and waded across the dining room to the kitchen. "You want anything?" he said before going in. Seiya still didn't look up but shook his head.

He looked down at the latest attempt; it was his longest so far which wasn't saying much but it was an improvement.

_There are times when you make me laugh  
there are moments when you drive me mad  
there are seconds when I see the light  
though many times you made me cry (Nothing to Lose - MLRT)_

Strangely enough he found he was quite happy with it, it was certainly fitting, now if he could just add to it. He bent down to start writing again when the door slammed and two loud voices could be heard.

"Well you know what I don't care!"

"You are such a sore loser… just admit it I rock,"  
"You got lucky,"  
"Yeah three times in a row," Mina came waltzing into the dining room but stopped short on seeing Seiya.

"Ah," he turned to give her a smile that wiped her own off her face.

"Hey Mina!" he said in a voice that sounded little to friendly, she gave a nervous giggle and backed out of the room.

"Seiya… you're here… did you, erm see Haruka," he nodded and she gave another nervous giggle as Yaten came in.

"You mean you actually went… and you still have both arms and legs?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"So… it went okay then," Mina looked relieved but still wary.

"Oh yeah… we talked a bit… funnily enough you came up," she had now back fully out of the room and was looking in awe at her watch.

"Oh my… I had totally forgotten I have to be at the studio in ten minutes, I really have to dash tell me some other time okay… bye," and with that she made a dash for the door. Seiya smiled to himself slightly as the front door slammed. Yaten was looking at him like he was something incredible.

"What is it?"

"I don't know what you did to make her back off like that but… you have got to teach me," Seiya laughed and looked back at his lyrics, he made a couple of corrections and crossings out while Yaten seated himself across the table.

"Writing songs again?"

Seiya nodded without looking up, and so he missed Yaten's look of confusion.

"What's brought this on?" said Yaten leaning forward and grabbing the piece of paper. He leant back in his chair and scanned the page, raising an eyebrow.

"I just thought I should get back into it… what?" he grabbed the paper back and glared at Yaten who was still looking sceptical about something.

"Nothing… I guess I forgot how soppy your writing was… now I think about it…"  
"Shut up," Seiya frowned and lobbed one of his rejected sheets of scrunched up paper at Yaten's head. Standing up, he folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

"I'm going out again!"

Yaten watched, shaking his head, as Seiya marched out of the dining room and out of the front door, slamming it behind him. Taiki stepped back into the room and sighed at the slam.

"What did you do to him this time?" He said in a despairing tone.

Yaten turned and frowned at him before also standing and making his way towards the door. Taiki simply sighed and went back into the kitchen.

_Stupid Taiki… always my damned fault… I was only kidding, he didn't have to take it so personally. _Yaten fumed as he walked out into the crowded street, he could still just see the back of Seiya's head a little way ahead of him. He wasn't exactly sure why he was following him.

Meanwhile just ahead of him, Seiya was ready to bash his head against a wall out of frustration, he didn't know quite where he was going, just that it was away from Yaten, Taiki, Mina… all of them. There was a little voice in his head telling him he was getting overly upset about the tiniest thing, but then there was the bigger and louder voice telling him that he had every right after the three years of holding back to finally let it all out.

Let it out he had, a few days ago, on Haruka Tenoh, and this was another thing that the voices were arguing about. The loud part told him she deserved it really, the little one that he supposed was called conscience, was telling him that nobody deserved to be broken like that, and the image of her breaking down continually played back in his head. A week ago he would gladly have exchanged that image for the ones of Usagi that had previously haunted him, he'd probably have laughed about it, but now every time it played he felt more and more sorry and angry at himself for what he'd said. That was probably the reason he stayed behind at her house to make sure she was okay, he'd have felt guilty if he'd just left her, and he already felt that more than enough.

He growled slightly, causing the woman who was walking past to give him a strange look. It was ridiculous quite frankly, he wanted to blame Haruka for seeking him out for a fight, Michiru for causing her to do so, Mina for making him go to apologise, Mamoru for being there in general, pretty much everyone, but that nagging little conscience was winning through and he knew that he had said it, and he had meant to it to hurt, even if he didn't actually believe it when he said it. It was his fault that he couldn't get the sight of her looking so scared and frail out of his head.

As he thought this, he was of course paying absolutely no attention to where he was going and so it was inevitable that eventually he walked into somebody. It was even more inevitable, due to the way fate tended to favour others, that the person would be none other than Haruka Tenoh, looking her normal angry self.

On seeing that the blonde and his brother were heading straight for each other, neither paying much attention, Yaten was almost tempted to rush forwards and pull Seiya out of her way. He'd probably been lucky earlier, if he knocked into her, he'd probably lose a limb. On the other hand he'd just seen Mina crossing the road behind him and he was preoccupied with ducking into a shop to make sure she didn't spot him, as the other two collided with shouts of "Watch where your…!"

"Oh god!" Haruka practically screamed "Can I not go half a day without running into YOU!"

Seiya frowned, all thoughts of being sorry for her blowing out of the window, the little voice seemed to be cowering in a corner of his mind. _So much for her promising Mina to be civil with me_ he thought _it's only been what four hours since she was taking my advice_.

"Well you know you would hardly be my first choice as to who to just run into, where are you headed without looking anyway!" She froze a little and frowned back.

"Setsuna's…why got a problem with it?" She snapped, and Seiya knew that she must have actually done what he said she should and called Setsuna; he couldn't help but feel slightly smug. He was about to respond when both were interrupted by a loud

"Oh!" as another blonde almost ran into them and jumped back looking very awkward.

"Er Hi Haruka… Seiya," She said getting a hold of herself and putting on a breezy voice and calm-ish smile. Both just stared at her for a moment before she continued.

"You two seem to be getting on well… so don't let me interrupt," she started to back away, a little too slowly however as Haruka was next to her a moment later.

"Mina," She said with a smile, before bending down to say something in Mina's ear, which caused Mina to go slightly red and get very flustered.

"Er…well, yeah… anyway like I said…bye!" She turned on her heel and walked away leaving Seiya laughing and Haruka with a smile suggesting she was very pleased with the result of her words. She turned, still smiling, to a still laughing Seiya and it was a few moments before they both realised who they were standing opposite. At the realisation both abruptly stopped and went back to frowning.

"Anyway I'm in a rush so…"  
"Yeah me too… see ya,"

"Right, see ya,"

With that they both walked away with a shared feeling of confusion as to why they had said 'See Ya'. A small white haired guy who was watching also shared this feeling. He turned around and started to walk home beginning to get worried about his brother, he had said from the very beginning sitting at that window for weeks was going to send Seiya crazy, and now he was beginning to see evidence to prove his theory.

* * *

Haruka cursed herself as she tried to search for a really good reason why she should hate Seiya Kou. Setsuna sat opposite watching her patiently as she battled inside her head. The problem was she couldn't even use what he had said to her a few days before because she had sought him out and what he had said was true.

She had arrived at Setsuna's about half an hour ago, for the first twenty minutes she had poured her heart out about Michiru, and it had helped, she wished that she could adopt Setsuna's patience. Then again, standing guard over the Time Gates for eternity will grow that quality in a person. However just a few minutes ago she had started a rant about Seiya, to which Setsuna had asked her what exactly it was about him that made her still able to hate him so much. She didn't know what brought that question on, but when Setsuna had ensured her that it was a serious question she had started to think about it; and maddeningly she could pinpoint an exact reason.

"Gah Suna what is the point in this… does it matter why I think he's a total ba…"  
"Haruka, perhaps you dislike him because he has too much in common with you," Haruka laughed loudly.

"In common with that…"

"Think about it for a second, for an obvious one your both sailor soldiers,"  
"Yeah well so are…"  
"You're both headstrong, stubborn, totally devoted to your duties and your princess,"

"He stayed when she…"

"She practically ordered them to stay. Okay, well then you're both confident, flirtatious, and protective…"

"Well yeah but he…"

"And need I even mention the whole gender thing!"

"Hey I…" Haruka was about to get really mad when she noticed the mischievous twinkle behind the older woman's eyes. She folded her arms and leant back in her chair, straining to prevent the smile from forming.

"Did you just crack a joke?" she said in a would-be grouchy tone.

"Why no, I was totally serious," Setsuna was now smiling, "Okay not entirely, but still Haruka, if you keep focusing on blaming and hating one person, for reasons that you don't understand, it's only going to make the whole thing harder for you… and him… I think we all know the last month has been hard on him,"

Haruka grunted and frowned,

"Well believe what you like, but I still say you should give the guy a break, if only for your own sake,"

"I don't know if I like the new talkative, jokey you Suna. She's getting a bit out of hand" Said Haruka rolling her eyes, but a small smile was evident on her face. Setsuna just laughed.

* * *

**Phew, glad i'm done, it was one of those in-betweeny chapters that i find really difficult to write... i may edit this a bit later, right now i'm too tired xP **

**Anyway as always Review and i'll love you a whole lot :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay finally happy with this chapter, took me a while SORRY :( any way i hope you like it **

**Disclaimer- I don't own Sailor Moon (enter witty comment here)  
**

* * *

"Kou residence," 

"..."

"Oh Hello Mr. Narahashi,"

"..."

"This coming Friday… Yes of course,"

"..."

"Yes I'm sure they'll be delighted, it's been a long time since we last played together,"

"..."

"Yes sir, thank you goodbye,"

Taiki placed down the phone and stared at it for a while.

"Oh dear!" he sighed and went back to his room.

* * *

About half an hour later he heard the door open and slam closed again. There was a loud but muffled yell. 

"HEY!"

The door opened again, and Taiki peered around his door and down the corridor into the living room, where Seiya and Yaten looked like they were in a face off. He sighed again; today was not a good day.

"I can't believe you followed me, can I get no time to myself around here," shouted a frustrated looking Seiya,

"You get too much time to yourself!" snapped back an even more frustrated looking Yaten. "I'm serious Seiya it's sending you batty, for gods sake the only two people that you can have a civilised conversation with any more are Minako and Tenoh! Tell me there's not something wrong with that!"

"How about not being able to a have a civilised conversation with anyone Yaten, isn't there something wrong with that,"

Yaten was about to make a response when Taiki stepped between them; he had grown accustomed over the years to playing mediator between his two younger siblings.

"Sorry to break up this obvious display of brotherly affection, but I have some news,"

Neither did anything but glare at him as a response, but they had at least shut up.

"Narahashi phoned half an hour ago to say he has arranged us a concert for next Friday!"

"So what's new we…"

"Let me finish…" he snapped. It had the desired effect, Taiki didn't snap often and it always brought his brothers to attention.

"The concert is joint, us and… Kaioh Michiru," it took a few moments to register and when it did Seiya groaned and turned his head to face the ceiling.

"Well that's just perfect," said Yaten sarcastically, "Oh well at least with Tenoh there Seiya might actually have the chance to prove he can be sociable," Seiya's head snapped back down into a glare, he had quite forgotten that Yaten still didn't know about Haruka and Michiru breaking up, apparently Ami had let it slip to Taiki, but Mina had been much more careful than Rei had and Yaten didn't talk to the other scouts very much.

"I didn't realise the word sociable was in your vocabulary Yaten," Said Taiki in mock surprise, he narrowly avoided a large cushion that came flying in his direction before turning and walking back to his room.

Seiya followed suit, leaving a very aggravated Yaten standing alone in the middle of the living room. He glared down the hall for a little while before pulling out his phone and calling the person he always called when he was in this kind of mood, Mina.

* * *

The day of the concert came all to soon, Seiya counted himself lucky, so far, he had not seen Haruka even once in the last few days, although he had no doubts that together or not, Haruka always came to Michiru's concerts. Still more than likely she'd just come and go… Usagi and the scouts on the other hand would definitely stick around; he sighed and just hoped that Mamoru didn't like concerts too much… maybe if he didn't come Seiya might actually be able to enjoy her company. This, he thought, was too much to hope, even if Mamoru hated concerts, if Usagi wanted to come, he would be, as usual, glued to her side. Seiya remembered that he had promised to never leave her again after Galaxia was defeated; to be fair the guy had been dead and resurrected and probably felt that he never wanted to let her out of his sight again, but he was taking it a little far, from what Seiya could tell in three years the only time she was away from him was college."Hey sleepy you ready?" Yaten was leant against the doorframe. Seiya looked up and nodded, reaching out to the table to grab his signature; a red rose, and then stood up. 

"Let's get this over with,"

The two left the room and wondered down the corridor to where Taiki was stood waiting.

"Seen Michiru yet?" Seiya asked as they reached their eldest brother. He looked towards a red door with a star on it and the name Michiru Kaioh in gold lettering.

"Not yet, should we wait here do you think?"

Yaten tossed his hair in a bored manner, which earned him a smirk from both brothers.

"What?"

Seiya shook his head, "You are such a girl," his smirk only widened when Yaten threw him a glare.

"Stop pouting it's unladylike,"

The two laughed as Yaten turned away from them and marched off towards the stage area. They watched him all the way out of sight when a quiet polite voice came from behind them.

"Shall we?" 

They turned swiftly around and came face to face with a familiar teal haired woman. She was smiling gently and looked as beautiful as ever, her dress was white and made of long flowing material with light blue flowers decorating the bottom, and she carried a violin.

Taiki, ever the gentleman, immediately offered her his arm, which she took with grace and a smile. The two started walking and Seiya, after rolling his eyes, followed.

"Michiru it's been a while since we last saw you," Said Taiki, she nodded her head slightly and then looked straight ahead.

"It's been a busy few months," She said quietly. Taiki didn't press any further, seeing that the last month was obviously going to be a touchy subject; he hardly wanted to upset her, he admired both her, and her musical ability, and since Galaxia she had been very friendly towards them, unlike her, now ex, girlfriend.

When they arrived behind the stage Yaten had calmed down again, though he continued to give Seiya the occasional dirty look.

* * *

The concert was, as expected, a huge success, and the Three Lights and Michiru's final song was met with deafening applause so that their ears were ringing more than usual as they stepped off the stage. 

"Come on Seiya, even Taiki agreed to go,"

Seiya groaned and tried to yank his arm out of Yaten and Mina's grip. They refused to let go and continued to pull him into the crowded after-party room. Over on the other side of the room Taiki was stood talking to Ami, and both looked very happy, though also very out of place. In fact all the scouts were there, and a whole lot of other people, most of whom Seiya had never met but had to be nice to because they were very rich, involved with the Three Lights record company, and easily offended.

"I have a headache," he moaned,

"So do I, it's not stopping me!"

"I'm serious Yaten I'm going home,"

Finally he managed to escape their vice-grip, leaving the both of them to pout after him as he marched away.

He was still grumbling to himself about pushy little brothers and dumb blondes as he pushed open the back door to the concert hall and stepped out, into the pouring rain. He swore loudly and made a dash for his car, flinging open the door and clambering quickly inside. It had been perfectly clear just a few hours ago, but now it was raining so hard that in the short distance from the door to his car he was already soaked. He began complaining to himself again, adding the weather to his long list of grievances, and started the car. 

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that as he drove he was forgetting to avoid the large puddles that had already accumulated along the pavement. Nor did he notice the loud swearing and complaining that followed him as he sent waves of water across the pavement. What he did notice however was the loud bang on the back of his car window as a shoe smashed into it; he jammed on the break and turned in his seat to find the culprit. He couldn't be certain but as a tall blonde haired figure marched straight passed his window; he thought he could register an educated guess.

Haruka growled to herself, who was that idiot, as if she wasn't soaked through already, she just hoped that her shoe had left a mark, serve them right.

"Hey Tenoh!"

_Oh God NO! _

"You know it's not nice to throw things at peoples cars," She frowned, she should have known it was him, only he'd be that stupid. Turning her head she saw he was driving slowly alongside her, she turned her face away again.

"I should have known. Only a moron like you would go driving through puddles without a…"

"Tenoh… you're soaked," She stopped walking staring straight ahead an almost disbelieving expression on her face. Her shock quickly passed however and she turned back to him, he had stopped along side her.

"No kidding, really, you think! My God I hadn't even noticed! Thank you Mister Kou for drawing that fact to my attention!" She yelled before snapping back around and starting to walk away.

"What the hell are you walking in the rain for?"

She groaned, couldn't he just drive off a cliff?

"It was sunny when I walked in to the concert, I didn't plan to get soaked!"

Seiya sighed and drove forward again to catch her up; she even walked fast.

"Get in!"

"What?" She snapped around again.

"Look it's miles to your place from here, the rains not showing any signs of letting off, and I made it worse so… get in and I'll drive you home,"

"Like hell I'm getting in a car with you!"

"You wanna catch something?"

Sadly he had a point, Haruka had a big race coming up in a few days and she couldn't afford to get ill. She growled to herself but turned to face him.

"Fine!" He stopped again and she stomped around the car pulling the back door open and sliding inside.

"Try not to drip water all over the place," Said Seiya as he drove off again.

"Just drive fast!" she said refusing to look at him, "What makes you suddenly so concerned about me anyway?"

Seiya didn't say anything for a while, he wasn't entirely sure, though he guessed it was to do with his seemingly unending feeling of guilt and the constant image of her looking so frail, that he suddenly felt she needed his help.

"Look I know we don't get on all that well…" Haruka gave a little laugh that suggested he'd just made one hell of an understatement.

"But…" He continued, "Despite your obvious impression of me I'm not a bad person and while I may not like the way you've acted to me these last few years, I wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone, not even you Tenoh,"

After this speech neither spoke again, Haruka had been quite surprised by what he had said.

He drove right up her drive so that she didn't have to go far before she could get inside. She got out of the car thanking him quietly as if she was worried someone might over hear her.

Seiya was about to leave when he rolled down the window, "Hey Tenoh," She turned back, "What?"

"Just so you know… it wasn't just Mina that made me apologise to you, I am sorry about what I said," then before she had a chance to respond he rolled the window back down, started the car and drove off.

Forgetting completely that it was still raining Haruka just stared after him. She hadn't really cared about why he apologised before, she'd brushed it off as him being scared of Mina. However he'd now said it three times, and this time he really didn't need to for his own benefit. A frown came to her face as she suddenly came to a realisation as to why after everything he had done for her and her friends she maintained that she despised him. She was acting like a child; she wanted to hate him and she just couldn't give it up. First it had been because she'd found him with Michiru, but then he hadn't known that Michiru was with someone and Michi was very good looking could he really be blamed, besides he'd never gone after her again. Then it had been because he seemed to be chasing Usagi, however it was Usagi's life, so who was she to dictate it, besides Usagi had been well out of his reach for a long time now. Then it had been because he was a Starlight, but he and the other Starlights had helped Sailor Moon defeat Galaxia, defended her princess, something she herself had failed to do. He had said all those things to her… but they were the truth, even if she hadn't known it till he had said it; and he had apologised. The fact was there was absolutely nothing to hate about the guy; and that was what she hated so much. She sighed feeling defeated, and she turned and walked the remaining distance to her house.

* * *

**You people have no idea how long it took me to write that last paragraph, my head is pounding 'owwy'. **

**Gah Haruka is so pigheaded, i love her and all but damn is she hard to write in this kind of fic. knocks head on table**

**Anyway i'm going to go sleep :) yawn back to college tomorrow JOY byebye  
**

**By the way Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, they also inspire me to write ... just a heads up. xXx**

**(Thought i'd start responding a little to my reviews)**

**_Evelynvm29-_ Yay thank you :D**

**_Haruka-_ Thanks :), and here you go, sorry it's a bit late**

**_SuicidalBeyblader- _I tried to bring Michiru into this a little just for you, though i find her a touch character to write as i think she's very undeveloped in the Anime and i haven't managed to read the Manga yet (is sad about this) but anyway thank you for loving my story jumps up and down**

**_bibi3758- _Hmm interesting idea... you'll have to wait and see Mwahahaha.  
**


	8. Shooting Star vs The Wind

**Whoot New Chapter, i like this Chapter, i'm finally getting to the stage where... hmm better not say to much read on :)**

**Lots of running around in this chapter, phew i don't know about you guys but i'm very tired, could be something to do with running for fifteen minutes in an absolute downpour, seriously monsoon season in the UK. I got sodden and now i have a cold sniff still, its good news for you guys since i always like to write to keep my mind off things when i'm not well meaning i got this chappy finished earlier than i thought i would.**

**Disclaimer- Who knows why we do this? If i owned Sailor Moon would i be posting FANfiction, cor honestly. Nope I'd be selling it and making even more MONEY. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**Eh hem yes anyway on with the FANstory.**

**

* * *

**

"Come on Haruka!" Usagi cheered along with the other scouts as Haruka lined up at the beginning of her race. She peered up into the large crowd and immediately spotted her friends, a wide smile spread across her face. All thoughts of having so little sleep slipped away as she prepared herself, glancing to her left and right at the other runners, none of them seemed to be much of a contest, but then that was always the case. They were told to get 'on their marks' and then suddenly a loud gunshot was fired and she was off.

Mere seconds later it was all over and she turned, not even slightly tired to see the others finishing behind her, all looking at her completely amazed as they took deep breaths. She didn't hang around long and went to find her friends; her spirits dropped slightly when she found that Michiru had not joined them; however she hadn't really expected her too.

"Amazing. As per usual," Said a grinning Makoto as she slapped Haruka on the back.

"Yeah you were fantastic as always Haruka," Usagi was beaming as she came to give her friend a huge hug. She felt Haruka go slightly stiff, but put it down to Haruka as being easily embarrassed by outward girly affection.

"Nice race Tenoh!"

Haruka blinked a couple of times before turning to see Seiya dragging Rei the limpet towards them.

"What the…"

"Oh I invited him along Ruka, you don't mind right!" Usagi said looking apprehensively from Haruka to Seiya. Thankfully all that happened was that Haruka's eyes narrowed slightly before she turned away, and Usagi breathed a gentle sigh of relief.

There was a small café near the racetrack, so once the awards had been given, they headed there to celebrate Haruka's win.

"So Kitten, where is Mamo-chan today," She saw Seiya wince slightly out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh he's off doing some boring college stuff, to be honest it's a bit of a relief," She sighed and leant back in her seat. It was a few moments before she realised everyone, with the exception of Seiya, was giving her funny and worried looks.

"Oh No!" She waved her hands in front of her face, "We're not having any problems it's just… well it's nice to spend some time just with you guys, we've been practically joined at the hip for about three years. All couples need some lone time every now and then right," she smiled round at them,

"Quite right!" Announced Seiya earning himself a hard poke from Mina and a glare from Haruka.

"Guys really don't worry," Usagi giggled, Seiya himself was close to laughter despite the topic. He didn't really understand, nor did he want to understand, the finer points of Usagi and Mamoru's relationship, the whole future daughter, Crystal Tokyo thing for instance seemed a little crazy, since when is the future a dead certainty; but what he did know was that any possible hitch was taken with a great degree of seriousness and it was very funny how worked up they all got.

"Perhaps you should call him Kitten," Put in Haruka,

"Yes, I'm sure he'll want to hear from you," Said Ami.

"Gah are you guys ever boring, I feel like I'm married to the lot of you sometimes," Usagi frowned slightly, but as the whole table started to giggle she started to smile again.

"Hey I better get going!" Seiya leapt up all of a sudden taking poor Rei, who had been leaning on him, by surprise as she toppled to the floor. "Oh Sorry Rei," He helped her up, causing one hell of a blush to pass across her face.

"You have to go Seiya?" Usagi looked at him, for a moment seeing the disappointment in her eyes he wanted to say he didn't, but he had sworn to Taiki and Yaten that he'd be back in time for an interview they were supposed to give that evening.

"Er Yeah… Three Lights stuff,"

"Oh right," She smiled,

"I'll see you then, Oda…Usagi," The other scouts, barring Haruka, gave him friendly waves as he turned to walk out.

"You know Seiya…" He turned back to see Usagi smiling serenely, "You can call me Odango, if you really want," He stared at her for a moment.

"I don't think Mamoru would…" Haruka started

"Pah, It's just a nickname what's everyone's problem," they all exchanged glances; it was too much to hope that she was just _acting_ dumb.

"You know it's okay, I guess it's getting a little childish by now anyway," Seiya said forcing a smile, before turning back and walking out of the door.

He was just getting into his car when he heard his name called.

"Hey Kou!" Knowing the voice instantly he thought for a moment about pretending to not have heard and just getting into his car and driving away, but Haruka had already reached him before he could make up his mind.

"Tenoh," he said straightening up, "To what do I owe this… er,"

"Skip it! I just want to make sure you're not getting any ideas,"

"Er… about?"

"Don't act thicker than you are Kou, I'm talking about Usagi, just because she and…"  
"If you're so convinced that their solid Tenoh, why are you out here making sure I don't try anything?"

Haruka was, much to her displeasure, at a loss for an answer to this. Seiya saw this and smiled.

"Look, you need to realise something Tenoh that I realised a long time ago: All this stuff about the future and destiny is a load of rubbish," Haruka opened her mouth to protest, "I'm not done! The future is what we make it okay, there are a hundred different paths, in the end it's always going to be Usagi's choice, and while it doesn't make it any easier for me to accept that she chose Mamoru, it does give me comfort to know that if he doesn't make her happy, she can decide to leave, even if not for me, for someone who will make her happy; because she deserves that. And just so you know, if you lot keep pressing this whole following destiny thing she's going to get sick of it, she's going to want to make you all happy even at a compromise to her own happiness, and I don't think you really want that do you?"

For the second time Haruka was lost for words and Seiya took the opportunity to get into his car.

"You know Kou… that's the second really deep thing you've said to me this week,"

"You clearly have some serious misconceptions about me Tenoh, and don't worry, I won't chase Usagi for as long as she is happy with Mamoru," he then started the car and Haruka jumped out of the way as he reversed and then drove off.

She watched him go, his words still echoing in her head. Until the last few months they'd never exchanged more than a few angry words; they'd known each other for so long and she still knew practically nothing about him, for instance she'd always assumed he'd chased Usagi even when he knew she had a boyfriend, who was admittedly dead although knew that at the time, simply because he was selfish. It occurred to her now that Usagi hadn't been very happy in those few months; maybe Seiya had picked up on that and tried to fill the gap because he truly cared. She blinked, and then frowned, she must be going insane, _next thing you know I'll be thinking 'maybe he's not so bad'_ she scoffed in her own head at the very idea and tried to ignore the little voice somewhere in the shadows of her mind that kept whispering _But maybe he's not_. Shaking her head she turned on her heel and headed back into the café and sat herself down again between Mina and Makoto who were talking animatedly about the new guy working at a bar downtown.

* * *

"Where the Hell were you!" Snapped Yaten as Seiya came dashing in, just on time.

He started to speak but Yaten cut across him.

"I was…"

"No wait, don't tell me. You were talking to Tenoh!"

"She just…"  
But Yaten had already thrown his hands in the air and stormed off. Taiki sighed and patted Seiya's shoulder.

"Leave him, you know he gets all worked up and jittery before interviews, he's just dreading the usual invasion of his privacy and he's taking it out on us!"

"On me you mean,"

"Are you kidding? What about when he was jittery about the privacy and the fact that you weren't here yet. I've never been so scared," He gave a fake shudder and headed off after Yaten. Seiya shook his head and took a deep breath and followed his brothers towards the backstage area.

* * *

A few days passed without much event, Yaten was getting more and more irritable by the day, only made worse by Seiya's suggestions that he was getting withdrawal from not seeing Mina, who had of course been studying since her final exams were getting closer.

"You know you'd feel a whole lot better if you just told her," said Seiya after a particularly long rant about why someone had put his best white shirt in the same wash as his coloured clothing, nobody had bothered to tell him it was he who had done this.

"Told who what?"

Seiya raised an eyebrow, he'd come to the conclusion long ago that Yaten was hopeless, but he had hoped it could be rectified.

"Oh I don't know, maybe tell Mina about your Undying love for her," Yaten blinked and paused.

"Ha, right," He scoffed and turned away, "I'll go tell her that the moment YOU declare undying love for Haruka Tenoh!" He paused again, "Then again maybe…"

"Oh shut up!" Seiya walked up and slapped him round the back of the head as he walked past "You need to wake up and smell the salt water,"

"What?"

"The Nile bro!" Seiya disappeared into his room before Yaten could work out what he was suggesting. (A/N I know _OLD_ i couldn't resist ;P) A loud growl a few minutes later, followed by the slam of the door, confirmed his theory. Still chuckling to himself he grabbed his bag and pulled it onto his shoulder. He had recently taking up running at the track, though he would never tell anyone, he had got the idea ages ago when he had heard Haruka talking with the other scouts about how freeing running could be. He had found that she was right and he now went every few days. He had always been fast, being the leader of the Starlights, speed was essential, but he had never thought it could be relaxing; but for a little while it felt as if you had outrun all your problems, and then when they caught up with you you'd had time to gather yourself together, you were stronger and ready to face them, and it was wonderful. It was one of the reasons he had been able to spend more time around the girls and Usagi without a constant pang in his heart.

As he stared ahead down the track at the finishing line he tried to block the loud chattering and cheers coming from the stands, he had already accumulated quite a little fan club, and it was difficult to concentrate. Yuki, pretty much the only sensible girl he'd met there, was stood at the end holding a timer and a little starters gun. He heard the crack and he pushed forward. He ran one circuit of the track putting on as much speed as he could; the squeals of the small crowd were muffled by the rushing wind. As he crossed the end line he vaguely heard the beep of the timer and he turned and jogged over to Yuki to find his time.

"Amazing," She said staring at it in disbelief. "You broke the men's 400m track record in one go!" he broke into a grin.

"The men's maybe," Said an amused voice and Haruka Tenoh once more hoved into view. "Not bad Kou,"

"You know Seiya Haruka?" said Yuki looking from one to the other.

"Oh we go way back," Smiled Haruka, the smile was more unnerving to Seiya than her usual expression of choice, a frown.

"Check it out Haruka," Yuki moved the timer so Haruka could see, "He's only about one second off your best time,"

"One second is a long time in racing," Said Haruka not losing her smile. Seiya raised an eyebrow.

"Hey why don't you two have a race, men's record vs. women's record?"

"Oh… I wouldn't want to take advantage, I've only just finished my warm up and Seiya has already worn himself out I expect," She watched the amused expression getting worse as she saw the fire light behind Seiya's eyes. If there was one thing she did know about him it was that he never backed down from a challenge.

"Scared of losing to a guy Tenoh?" He taunted, his own smirk spreading across his face. She turned to him and stared him right in the eye.

"Never,"

A nervous giggle from beside them made both turn, Yuki jumped at the sudden attention and started to scurry off muttering about getting set up. The two competitors headed to the starting blocks.

"Sure you don't want an hours break to get your breath back Kou,"

"Save your own breath Tenoh, you'll need it," She gave a laugh and they both watched as Yuki walked down towards the finish line.

There were more cheers now, it seemed Haruka had her own fan club; Seiya couldn't help but wonder how many of those girls actually knew she was a girl. He didn't think to hard on it though because Yuki was holding the gun in the air.

BANG!

**

* * *

**

**Ooooooo the wind vs the shooting star, who will be victorious HMMM it's a tricky one tee hee. Anyway from here on in we can finally start breaking down those barriers YAY someone get me a hammer :D.**

**REVIEWS my favourite part of my day is finding out what you guys think, okay one of my fave parts of the day, since i actually do have a life beyond fanfiction GOSH SHOCKING. :**

**bibi3758: A little in this chapter, but more so next chapter i promise ;)**

**sailor-ahiru: Coming soon, i hope xD, and i'm really glad you've decided to start writing your own Sei/Har fic, their my FAVEFAVEFAVE couple, you can just let your imagination run wild and it's not like you have to work around annoying future children or crystal cities or dull fiance's (yes i have issues with Mamoru get over it Mamo lovers, god is he ever boring, he can even make the superhero look, look yawn)**

**SeiHaru: beams like the sun BIG thank you to you, i think you've commented on practically every chapter (HUGS). Your comments really inspire me to keep writing :D. **

**RICEA42991: That's exactly what i'm going for, no fast fluff here :D, though hopefully some soon fingers crossed **

**Katrina Kadabra: I hope it stays interesting ;)**


	9. Call it Truce

**Okay after a lot of deliberation on who should win the race i finally this chappie.**

**Just a note: i'm thinking of writing another story after this one, i typed up a quick summary, its Life Swap, title is just random i need to think of a better one. Still if you could read it and let me know what you think.  
**

**Disclaimer- Once again i am here to tell you that i absolutely and definately do not own the Manga/Anime or anything else relating to Sailor Moon. If i did Seiya and Haruka would get together, and Mamoru would stay in America indefinetly.  
**

**On with the tale.**

**

* * *

**

Even though she could not see him, she could tell that he was right on her shoulder, a new experience for her; in most cases she never even had to think about the other runners, let alone worry about even the slightest possibility that someone might pass her, unless of course she was simply pacing herself for a speedy finish. But there he was, right behind her. It was highly distracting she thought as she put on more speed to try and pull away.

100m gone, and he still hadn't trailed, neither had he attempted to overtake, she had seen other runners try this trick, keep on your opponents tail, force them to use up their energy trying to stay ahead of you, then right at the last second pull past. Well there was no way he was going to pull that one on her. If he was going to hang around behind her, he could jolly well stay there.

200m and Seiya hadn't felt this determined to win in a real battle of strength for years. He knew Haruka was an amazing runner, many said she was the fastest in all earth, and those that knew about the past said the fastest in the solar system. It wasn't surprising; she was the wind Senshi, fast was in her nature. But he wasn't from this galaxy, and he was the fastest from his own home, a shooting star, he would prove that.

300m and the finish line was in sight. Both started to speed up, pushing themselves to go faster. From the corner of her eye Haruka could see that as they came out onto the straight path, Seiya was level with her. Again this was new to her, a normal race was barely a challenge, now she was using all her strength. Neither had ever focused so hard on that white line on the floor.

400m and it was hard to believe it had only been less than a minute since they had started, Haruka had never been so worn out by a race, she had run marathons and not felt this tired. Seiya too was really feeling it. It had been a very long time since he ran that hard, Haruka at least raced on a more regular basis.

Neither had any idea who had won, and they watched as Yuki ran over to the man she had enlisted to help her if need be, they stood comparing times before Yuki beamed and started to walk slowly over.

Haruka raised her self from leaning on her knees to catch her breath and yelled over.

"Yuki, hurry it up will you!" She yelled. She heard a small tired laugh from nearby as Seiya also looked up.

"I think Yuki, you should get over here and tell us before poor Tenoh collapses from exhaustion… oof!" Haruka had nudged him aside causing him to stagger and fall.

"Who's collapsing Kou?"

Yuki had finally reached them and Seiya heaved himself off the floor, shooting Haruka an annoyed look, she returned with a superior one.

"Well…" Yuki looked from one to the other and then down at the two stopwatches she was carrying. Silence.

"Well?" Said both in frustration.

"Well you both just smashed the record…" she said.

"AND!" Yuki took a couple of steps away from them.

"And er… well by 0.71 seconds… the winner was…"

* * *

**The End ... No just kidding:D i'm mean but not that mean.**

"I knew it!"  
"Just shut it already!"  
"No way,"

"It was 0.71 seconds, it was hardly a grand victory,"

Haruka raised an eyebrow at him; she couldn't help but smirk at the sulky look on his face.

"You're just riled because you lost to a woman,"

"Woman is debatable," sniffed Seiya.

"Well whatever, I still beat your ass,"

"By less than a second, and I'd already raced,"

"Excuses don't do you any favours Kou,"

Seiya sighed; the horrible thing was that she was absolutely right. No matter what he said, there was no debating the fact that he had lost… it may have been an unbelievably small margin time wise, but it was still a loss. As the two headed out into the car park, Haruka was still bragging away animatedly about her win, and he'd given up listening. She soon caught on to this fact.

"Would it stop you jumping off a bridge if I told you, that you are probably the best opponent I've raced against?"

He turned to face her and it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"If I told you it would stop me… would you tell me?"

Haruka laughed.

"Maybe," she walked ahead towards her car. Seiya watched her go. She was so different at the track to how she was anywhere else. In fact, if you heard them and you didn't know them, you'd probably think they were just good friends bickering, kind of like Usagi and Rei. Whether it was just some strange effect the track had on people he didn't know. He always felt much more relaxed and himself whenever he came here and he supposed that was why they were both simply 'bickering' and not yelling and glaring at each other.

As Haruka got into her car, she was wondering along the same lines. She was just glad the scouts hadn't witnessed the previous conversation, they'd probably be bugging her for weeks about 'Oh My God, you mean you and Seiya were alone, within fifty feet of each other… and your both still walking!!!'

She knew that they had a point, most days whenever she ran into him, she got the intense desire to hit him...hard. Maybe it was his cocky attitude, she wasn't sure, but since the day he had come round to her house to apologise, the feeling had lessened to simply a desire to show him up. Which she had done, and she would use that fact for all it was worth. She was just about to start her car when…

"Oi Tenoh," She turned in her seat and saw Seiya leant against his own car.

"What!" She yelled back, trying to sound annoyed.

"I'll want a rematch!"

She smiled to herself and turned away starting the engine, as he opened his door and slid inside.

* * *

"KOU YOU MORON!" 

"ME! YOU'RE THE BLOODY MORON!"

And off they went again. Another scout meeting ended by Haruka and Seiya. Today the issue was a slight scratch in Haruka's paintwork. Now normally she would be very upset about this, after all, the car was her pride and joy. But since it was Seiya's car that appeared to have done the damage, she wasn't upset… she was livid.

The scouts, plus Taiki and Yaten, watched on in despair. Well except Yaten who watched on in annoyance, and Setsuna who seemed vaguely amused by the scene.

"IS IT MY FAULT IF YOU PARK LEAVING ALL THAT SPACE IN FRONT OF YOUR CAR, IF YOU'D GONE FORWARD A COUPLE OF INCHES I'D OF HAD THE SPACE TO PARK PROPERLY!"

"YOU COULD HAVE FOUND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO PARK!"

"NOT WITHIN THREE MILES I COULDN'T!"

"SO WALK!"

"Oh Haruka, Seiya just quit it will you," Makoto stamped over

"Nose OUT Makoto!" They shouted not even looking at her since neither wanted to be the first to break eye contact. Makoto threw her arms up in frustration.

"Come on we'll leave them here to argue it out." She said, the others sighed and nodded, and they all turned and headed away leaving Seiya and Haruka to tear each other apart in private.

* * *

"Have you two quite finished?" Said Minako looking from one to the other. 

Both looking pointedly in different directions, they nodded.

"And you promise you're not going to start up again and make a scene,"

Both nodded again.

"Very well you may join us," Mina and Makoto, who were sat on the ends of the seats in the Crowns café, scooted up allowing Seiya and Haruka to sit down.

"Well as we were saying before we were interrupted by that petty fight between two of us who we all know!" Said Mina looking pointedly at Seiya and Haruka, who both rolled their eyes and continued to look like sulky teenagers. "Since it has been quiet for some time now, I think that…" she stopped as someone's phone went off loudly.

"Oh for goodness sake… I thought we said phones off during meetings and… oh, it's me,"

Even Seiya and Haruka let out a sigh and a small smile at Mina's display of her usual dizziness.

"Hello… yes… uh huh… oh my god… yes it's perfect… yes thank you… goodbye," She hung up, a huge smile on her face. She composed herself.

"Now where was I,"  
"Woh wait a sec what was that about," Makoto leaned forward across the table.

"Nothing…" said Mina slowly; she gave a small cough, "So if…"

"Uh uh, tell us," Usagi and Rei had now leant in as well, and Ami soon followed suit along with Hotaru, and Yaten. Haruka and Seiya, though they continued to pretend to be in a sulk, were listening intently, Taiki looked interested, and Setsuna was smiling knowingly to herself. Minako sighed and for a moment acted frustrated at not being able to get to the end of the meeting. Then the frustration disappeared and gave way to excitable, bouncy, smiling Mina.

"Well… that call was from this company, and they're only like the biggest firm in Japan and one of the top in the world for films!"

"And," Chorused the Inners.

"AND! They only want ME, to be a leading part in their latest project."

There was a chorus of loud screams, a couple of crashes, and a loud "Ow guys you're suffocating me," from Mina, as all the younger girls leapt at her. Haruka and Seiya finally dropped all pretence and smiled widely, congratulating her when she emerged from the pile that was the Inner Senshi. When Taiki and Yaten both offered there own congratulations Yaten found himself being crushed round the middle by the excited blonde and he turned a violent shade of pink, which changed to purple as he found she was cutting off his oxygen supply.

Pretty soon they were getting thrown out for disturbing the customers and nearly breaking the table by jumping across it. But high spirits meant they weren't too bothered.

"I'm so happy for Mina, she's dreamed of this," Said Seiya to the person walking beside him as he watched Mina dancing with the rest of the Inners and Hotaru, just ahead.

"She certainly deserves it after all she's been through to get there," Haruka smiled at the ditzy blonde, who was already drawing the stares of passers by, without a care in the world.

Seiya nodded, then both turned their heads, on making eye contact both looked away immediately as if electrocuted.

"Don't think I've forgotten my car Kou!" Snapped Haruka and she strode away to walk with Setsuna. Seiya frowned after her for a while, jumping slightly when Setsuna turned at him, a small smile playing on her face. She seemed to do that a lot, and it annoyed him, it was like she knew something he didn't, or she knew something about him. Had Haruka told her something… that wasn't possible what would Haruka know about him without him knowing that she knew it? But she had looked away again almost instantly and Yaten had joined him, moaning about broken ribs from Mina's hug, so his train of thought was broken as he started to tease his brother about his very obvious blush.

"I couldn't breath… It was not a blush!" was all he got in return.

* * *

"Ready to admit defeat Kou… or do you want _another _rematch!" A smirking Haruka was what met him as he walked out onto the track. He frowned, he had so far had three more races against Haruka, and to be fair to him he had never been more than a second behind her. This however served less to encourage him, more to infuriate him that he could quite get passed. 

"Oh not again," Yuki groaned,

They both looked over at her as she collapsed to the floor on her knees.

"You two need a new hobby," and she promptly fell limply to the side so she was lying on the floor, "Just watching you battle it out makes me tired, having to referee nearly killed me last time"

Both Seiya and Haruka laughed, Yuki was a dramatic, much like Minako and she usually managed to calm the tense feeling and bring out an almost friendly atmosphere between the two rivals.

"You needn't play mediator Yuki, you'd save yourself some trouble and energy," Laughed Seiya.

"What!" Yuki sat up again, "And have you two murder each other… nuh uh,"

"I had no idea you cared so much Yuki," Smiled Haruka.

"Ha," Said Yuki pulling herself back onto her feet, "I don't give a damn bout you two, I just don't want to be the one who has to clear up your remains when you tear each other apart,"

"Well that makes me feel so loved,"  
"Yeah Charming Yuki,"

"Yeah yeah… look can we just have a non competitive session… just once? Please!" She begged. She looked so pitiful that neither Seiya or Haruka could deny her.

"Alright," They said.

"You'll call truce?"

"I guess," They nodded.

"Shake on it!"

"Wha…" They froze, and then turned their heads to face each other, then away again to look at Yuki.

"Yuki… you could…"

"Can't you just… take our word for it,"

Yuki frowned at them both, and she shook her head. She strode forward and grabbed the right hand of both and held them near each other.

"You two are going to shake or I'm going to leave and you can clear up your own bloody mess!" she let go of their hands, which hung in the same position.

Each eyed the others hand as if it might be diseased, not wanting to be the first to make a move. Yuki frowned at them again, and then made a move as if to leave.

"Eugh, damn it Yuki," Haruka rolled her eyes and moved her hand slightly, Seiya followed suit and soon the two were locked in a handshake. Yuki gave a triumphant smile.

"Truce?"

"Truce," They both sighed.

* * *

So... Haruka and Seiya called a truce... who saw that coming... (raises hand) :P so where to go next, i'll have to get my brain in gear. 

**Remember i love reviews :). Speaking of which... last chapter's reviews were as always a great motivation and they make me feel all fuzzy and loved:**

**bibi3758: Yeah i didn't even think of it till when i was writing the last few bits, thanks for all your comments ;)**

**Seiharu: Once again thank you, and poor Yaten, oh well i'm sure it'll get better as time goes by ;) also 'ingenius' new one for me xP i've been called many things... but that one made my friends laugh, i'm very Minako, born blonde i think. **

**RICEA42991: I'd like to see that vid... i think they make good rivals, but a better couple -**

**Nancy: Okay Okay... (is scared, hides behind couch with laptop to update as fast as possible)**

**Jokerisdating: Thanks, i try :)**

**Sailorahiru: Yeah i had some trouble with those tough decisions, but i decided that Haruka's smugness could be turned to my advantage more than more hatred xP. Thanks for you comment :)**

**Well as always thank you guys for your kind reviews, all positive so far, which is a good sign. I'll try and Update Soon. Ciao. **


	10. Too Late, Too Much

**Yay update :D (bounces around the room) yeah i'm hyper, its the holidays, Harry Potter is out tomorrow and i just had a lot of pizza so ya :)****  
**

**Disclaimer- Blah Blah Blah i don't own Sailor Moon... rub it in why don't you.  
**

**Read and Enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

"Mina please calm down… ouch no your squashing me… MINA… Mina I can't breathe!!!!"

"You came to see me on my first day… Aw Yaten I knew you cared!"

"Its not… Mina please I can't feel my arms!"

Mina let go and started dancing around in front of him as he took deep gulps of air and nursed his sides. It was this sight that first met the eyes of Seiya and Taiki as they walked into the studio along with the other scouts… minus Michiru.

"Hey Mina!" Makoto, Ami, Rei and Usagi raced forward with their good lucky cards and gifts.

"You GUYS!" she hugged them all one after the other. Seiya laughed slightly, he'd never seen anyone this excitable before; even Mina had never quite achieved it until now.

"How'd you guys get in anyway," She said still bouncing around. Seiya answered her with his signature boyish smile.

"We just said they were with us… we're well acquainted with the director."

"Eeee, I love having you guys around," It was Seiya's turn to be attacked by hyper excited Mina and he nearly passed out from the impact.

"Miss Aino?" Seiya sighed with relief as she released him and turned to find the source of her name. A rather small fragile looking woman who couldn't be much over twenty was standing in the door looking timid.

"Yes that's me," she beamed; this seemed to be the answer the poor woman feared.

"Oh… er you're wanted in make up in five minutes, Miss Aino," She said nervously, looking afraid that Mina might jump her. Seiya didn't blame her.

"Oh!" Mina squealed excitedly making the woman leap back a pace. The crazy blonde span back around to face her friends. She pulled her Sailor V pose and giggled.

"Well guys wish me luck yeah,"

They all nodded and wished her good luck. She was just about to turn away when a tiny cough, almost inaudible, came from behind the group. Everyone span around and came face to face with a small teal haired woman, who looked more nervous than the assistant who had come to collect Mina.

Reactions to the woman differed greatly through the group. All of the inner Senshi except Mina ran forward to great her enthusiastically, most especially Usagi ("Michiru we haven't heard from you in AGES I missed you!") Haruka stiffened slightly and when Michiru's eyes fell on her she turned sharply away, the pain in Michiru's eyes was not hard to miss. Hotaru was looking back and forth from Haruka and Michiru unsure what to do, Setsuna gave Michiru a small smile and a nod, which was returned, the Three Lights did the same and Mina just stood there looking dumbfounded.

"Excuse me," Said Michiru quietly "I heard that you began work today Mina… I wanted to offer my congratulations and wish you good luck." She walked towards Mina who had still not stopped staring.

"I hope you don't mind my coming,"

Mina finally came out of her stupor and shook her head vigorously, before looking up at her fellow Senshi and friend with a wide smile.

"Of course I don't… Michiru it's wonderful to see you," She leapt forward and pulled the surprised Michiru into a tight hug. When she released her, Mina danced back a couple of steps.

"Well… I have to go now," She looked like she might scream in excitement again but she held back. "See Ya!" She said and ran towards the door, waving over her shoulder as the rest smiled after her.

The smiles died as the blonde disappeared and all eyes were suddenly on Michiru and Haruka. Except Yaten, who was looking at everybody else, wondering why all eyes were on Haruka and Michiru.

As Michiru took a step towards Haruka's turned back, everybody began to back slowly out of the room. Seiya grabbed the back of a confused Yaten's jacket and yanked him out with the rest.

"Haruka…" was all they heard before the door closed behind them.

"What's going on?" Said Yaten. He was answered with a round of Sssh's as the inner Senshi except Ami leant up against the door to listen.

"Do you know how rude that is," the small blue haired girl tutted at her friends, who all just continued what they were doing.

"What is going on?" Repeated Yaten in a more hushed voice.

"Yaten!" Hissed Makoto, "You are interfering with reception, shut up!" he rolled his eyes and moved over next to Usagi to listen as well while Ami, Seiya Taiki, Hotaru and Setsuna watched them in despair.

* * *

"Haruka…"

Silence and a slight twitch of the head to let her know she was listening was all Michiru received for a reply.

"Haruka I…" She swallowed, "Haruka look at me," She said, there was a brief silence.

"I… can't!" Haruka choked out, trying desperately to control her tone. Tears formed in Michiru's eyes as she stared at the back of her once best friend and lovers head. Unconsciously she noted that Haruka's hair had grown slightly longer. She hung her head slightly and took a deep breath.

"Haruka… I…" She sighed, "How are you doing?"

"I'm just fine!" Haruka still refused to turn.

"I'm… glad," Michiru paused again and looked around the room as if searching for some form of help.

"Is there something particular you wanted to say to me?" Said Haruka in a harsh tone, Michiru winced and looked down at the floor.

"Actually," She started, "I really just… Haruka please just look at me," she took another breath. Haruka closed her eyes and began counting to ten, she knew she shouldn't be this angry, after all it wasn't all Michiru's fault, but she was angry and she didn't want to be here; she didn't want to break down and she was pretty certain if she had to look at Michiru right now she'd do just that.

"No!"

She just couldn't.

"Haruka, please… we can't go on like this…"

"I said No damn it!"

Why did she keep pushing it? She was supposed to know Haruka better than anyone in the world, why didn't she understand?

Michiru sighed heavily, "Ruka," she said softly, Haruka flinched.

"Please Ruka, I… I know you're hurt, but you just can't go on ignoring me forever…"

"Don't call me that!"

It was Michiru's turn to flinch, "Ruka I…"

"I said. Don't. Call. Me. That!" Haruka's voice was at it's lowest most dangerous level, those who were listening outside drew back slightly in fear, they could almost see Haruka with her fists clenched tightly at her side, her head lowered and her eyes narrowed.

Michiru's expression became sadder than ever, tears began to line the bottom of her eyes.

"Ha…Haruka, I'm sorry, I just… I can't stand that you won't even speak to me, or look at me. I know that we've both done and said things that hurt each other but… I still care about you."

Haruka continued to stare at the floor. She still couldn't understand… if Michiru knew her at all, why was she here, she should know that she needed a lot of time and space, to get her head round things, to move on with her life… it was the way she'd always been.

"Haruka I… I lost your love… I don't want to lose your friendship,"

Haruka shut her eyes tight, she didn't want to hurt Michiru any more than she had already, but the only way she could be sure of the space she needed, was to push her even further away. She span around and briefly made eye contact, hoping that Michiru would understand why she was going to do what she was.

"Too late!" She said spitefully and marched past her towards the doors.

The others all leapt back from the door at the sound of her approaching footsteps, shock written all over their faces, the doors swung open as Haruka came straight through and walked away, not sparing any of them a glance.

Before the doors closed they turned to see Michiru watching Haruka's retreat, her expression unreadable.

Usagi was looking back at the doors and then up the corridor, worry for her friends evident in her expression, she looked unsure whom to go and comfort. After a few seconds Setsuna stepped forward.

"Princess… would you go after Haruka, I shall speak to Michiru," Usagi gave her a grateful smile and a nod before running off after Haruka, while Setsuna pushed open the doors to speak to Michiru who was now sat on the floor still staring in the same direction, Hotaru trotted after her, with a concerned expression.

Makoto, Ami, Rei and the Three Lights were left in the corridor. The girls were stood a little way off talking in whispers, while Taiki and Seiya tried to explain the situation to Yaten, who was looking confusedly in both directions.

* * *

"So let me get this straight… Tenoh left Kaioh!"

"If you want to put it that simply… then yes," Said Seiya, they were back at their apartment, and it had taken a full hour to finally get Yaten comprehending what was going on, Seiya wondered whether he was this thick because Mina's bear hugs had slowed the blood flow to his brain.

"Because Kaioh had an affair,"  
"Yes," Said Taiki

"With a guy,"  
Taiki gave a loud sigh, "Yes,"

"And nobody thought to tell me this before because…"

"You're a big mouthed moron who would have gone in guns blazing and gotten yourself killed," Said Seiya matter-of-factly as he leant against the back of the sofa.

"Right," Taiki leant next to him, and Yaten threw both a glare.

"Who told you two then?"

"Rei… by accident,"  
"Ami… also by accident,"

"What… you mean even Ami let it slip and Mina didn't!" Yaten collapsed into an armchair. "Tenoh split with Kaioh, Mina's able to keep secrets when even Ami can't, the worlds gone mad,"

Seiya nodded, he thought Yaten had a very good point.

"And on top off that Seiya and Tenoh can be in the same room without biting each others heads off… I think I may have a nervous break down."

Seiya frowned, less of a good point in his opinion, though still a true one.

"Now all I need is for Usagi to top Taiki's test score and that'll be it," He stood up again, "I need a lie down!" he announced and marched away towards his room, slamming the door behind him.

Seiya waited a few moments and then reached over to pick up the phone and listen; he put it down with a sigh and hoped that Mina hadn't answered her phone in the middle of something important on her first day.

* * *

Later that evening when Seiya reached the track he found Haruka already there and running round the track. She wasn't going at her usual pace for once, and strangely enough she seemed almost tired. He stood at the side and watched her as she continued to race around the bends, not stopping once.

"She's been doing that for an hour already, and she was here earlier as well,"

Seiya looked to the side of him and found Usagi was also watching Haruka.

"How was she when you spoke to her?" he asked, Usagi gave a small sad smile and turned to face him.

"She was perfectly normal… which is worrying to say the least," she turned around again. Seiya watched alternately between Haruka and Usagi. It was strange how grown up the Odango haired blonde suddenly seemed to be, far from the slightly childish, clumsy Usagi he had first met, whether it was the light, or his imagination, her whole face seemed wiser, her hair slightly lighter and her stance more regal, she looked like the moon princess she was. Turning his attention back to the track he could see that Haruka was not showing any signs of giving up, though her speed was greatly diminished, her paces were heavy and she looked ready to collapse.

"I wish she'd stop… but I keep trying to call her and she just ignores me." Usagi looked close to tears all of a sudden, "And I'd never catch her if I tried to run after her," She turned once more in Seiya's direction, the pleading look in her eyes slowly wearing him down until he sighed and moved forward.

"Alright I'll try… but if she lops my head off…" Usagi gave a little giggle and pushed him forward gently.

"I'll call Mamo-chan, she came without her car," Usagi got out her phone and started dialling as Seiya suppressed a small frown and moved off onto the track. He started after her as she passed by him.

"Tenoh!" he yelled as he tried to catch up, even when she wasn't at her normal pace she was fast, "Tenoh!"

She didn't slow even slightly, or look back, if anything it seemed she tried to speed up.

_This is ridiculous _Every time he gained any distance on her she sped up again, then fell back, then sped up, then fell back, it was insane, at this rate she was going to do herself some serious damage.

"TENOH!"

They had done two laps and Seiya had finally gained some ground on her, but she still wasn't letting up, as he passed he vaguely heard Usagi talking animatedly on the phone. Seiya couldn't believe that Haruka had been running at this speed for an hour already,_ she must be ready to collapse _he thought, not that she would ever admit defeat. She'd run out of the stadium, all the way home before she collapsed and then what she could hurt herself… she was being stubborn and stupid, and mostly she was making Usagi and the others worried.

"HARUKA!"

She stopped in her tracks; he'd only ever called her by her name once before… her breath suddenly caught her up and she fell to her knees. Seiya had caught her up and had knelt in front of her. A little way away there was a high pitched shout, and Seiya looked up briefly up to see Usagi starting to run over across the centre of the track towards the. Haruka didn't notice anything, blood was pounding in her ears, her vision was blurry, her face hot and damp from sweat mixed with tears, and her breath was fast and sharp.

"Hey! Tenoh…" Eugh that annoying voice… What did he want? Why now? Where was he? She looked up slightly.

"Come on try and slow your breathing, you shouldn't just stop and collapse like that you know," the voice was more and more distant. Haruka bent her head down and tried to calm her breathing, her throat hurt and all her muscles were begging for oxygen. She started to sway slightly, her eyes falling closed. Two hands held her in place.

"Come on Tenoh stay with it okay?" With her last ounce of strength she lifted her arm to brush off one of his hands.

"What the hell... do you want... Kou?" she muttered before falling sideways.

Just as Usagi reached them, Haruka fell to the side. Seiya shook his head; she'd passed out, he sighed and took a deep breath before picking her up, just hoping she didn't wake up until he had put her down. Usagi was looking at her worriedly.

"Mamo-chan is on his way," She said, not taking her eyes off Haruka's face, "He… he's a doctor, he'll know what to do," her voice was slightly cracked; and Seiya wished he had a spare arm to comfort her with.

"She'll be okay… she's just worn herself out," Usagi nodded and the two headed towards the exit to await Mamoru, only vaguely aware of the others around them, pointing and whispering.

* * *

**Hmm... i actually have nothing to say... strange huh. Oh well as always PLEASE review, i love hearing from you guys.**

**Speaking of which... last chapter's reviews were as always a great motivation and they made me feel like i was flying on a large pink fluffly cloud:**

**Ellen Kuhfeld - I like friendly ;) thanks for your comment.**

**owwiegh hurrrting- Nooo please hold on here's the next chapter :( get better.**

**sailor-ahiru- Heehee i know what you mean i do the same thing when i get reviews :P THANK YOU so much for your comments on this and my other fics O:)**

**SailorUranus28: No it's not the end :o and i'm glad your starting to like this couple, they're the best :D **

**Well das is all.**

**I'll try and Update Soon. Sayonara.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay this will be my last update for the next two weeks and i've been working hard to get this chapter done in time before i go away to sunny Ireland.**

**Anyway i will use the long journey and the days i'm stuck inside because it's pouring with rain to write more of this story down and then i'll type it up when i get home.**

**Disclaimer- Er, i can't think of a witty comment, needless to say i do not own Sailor Moon... er yeah that's it really  
**

**  
Read and Enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

Seiya tried to keep his eyes on the road as he drove Mamoru's car towards Haruka's house. This was easier said than done with all that was happening behind him. Haruka was still out and on either side of her, making sure she was okay was Mamoru and Usagi, the latter appeared to be crying, and this would have been enough to distract him at the best of times, but seeing through his mirror, Mamoru leaning around Haruka to comfort Usagi, well quite frankly he could do without the stabs of jealousy when he was trying to drive.

Finally they arrived at her home and he was able to get out of the stuffy car and take a deep breath of fresh air. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then turned to assist Mamoru in getting Haruka out of the car. It appeared she was just waking up and so he thought it best if Mamoru carried her, she was probably a formidable opponent even waking up from unconsciousness.

"What the…" She croaked out and Usagi dashed forward to look at her while Seiya hung back.

"Haruka, thank goodness, I was so worried!" she cried,

"Huh?"

"We'll explain when we get inside, have you got your house keys?" Mamoru looked down at her and she looked back blinking a whole lot. It was a while before she found her voice again.

"Uh… I don't think so… why exactly are you carrying me Chiba?" her voice was getting lower and more like her usual one.

"You passed out Haruka," Said Usagi with tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Well I'm fine now, put me down," she demanded, Mamoru looked at her for a moment, she didn't exactly look fine, but he probably realised if he didn't put her down she'd knock him out and fall to the floor, which would only result in two further injuries, whatever Seiya might think of him, the man wasn't stupid, and so he lowered her into a standing position and she tried to hobble forwards, it was strange to her, her legs just didn't seem to want to work, it was like trying to get up at five am on a Sunday morning, only with pain as well. However all that went out the window as she got a good look at Usagi's tear stained face, her own drained of any remaining colour.

While Usagi still looked sad, now that Haruka was standing in front of her, she could see that there was a hint of anger stirring behind those crystal blue eyes.

"Usa…"  
"Don't ever do that again Haruka!" her tone was quiet and sad and ten times worse than if she had shouted, even Seiya winced and Haruka looked down to the side, unable to maintain eye contact with her Princess.

"I'm…"

"I mean it… you could have hurt yourself… after everything we've been through," She was crying again, but her tone, though still quiet, sad and now little shaky was firm and demanding, Seiya could see more and more why they all respected her so much as a Princess and future Queen, "I don't ever want to see you hurt yourself! Do you hear me?"

"I'm sorry, Princess," Haruka was looking down at her feet, it was quite amazing really how the small blonde could put Haruka in her place, when nobody else could, not since Michiru anyway.

Usagi's expression softened and she walked over to hug her friend, who simply stood there, barely acknowledging the hug at all. When Usagi pulled away she was smiling kindly up at Haruka.

"I'm just worried about you Haruka, we all are, you're our friend and we care about you… we don't want to see you in pain…" Haruka looked to Mamoru who nodded and smiled at her, Usagi continued, "You scared me out there, if Seiya hadn't caught you, you'd have just kept on running and running, you could have ended up in…"  
"Seiya!"

Seiya took a step back as Haruka span around; she winced slightly as her muscles protested against the sudden movement. Usagi, sensing danger, stepped up next to her and put a hand on her arm.

"I asked him too stop you, he's probably the only person who could have caught up with you," Seiya didn't say anything, just tried to avoid looking at the two blondes. Maybe if he appeared uninterested they'd forget he was there and he could slip away.

"Oh," Said Haruka, she looked as if she might say something else but stopped and turned away again to look up at her house.

"Did you bring my bag?"

"It's in the car," Said Mamoru,

"My keys are in there," Mamoru nodded and walked back to the car, pulled out her bag and brought it back. Everyone was silent as she pulled out her keys and handed them to Usagi, she allowed herself to be helped to the door and as they disappeared inside, Seiya took the chance to begin his quiet getaway. He turned around and started walking down the long driveway.

"Seiya," He jumped and looked around to find Haruka stood alone leaning on the doorframe. She had a strange expression, partly annoyed, partly embarrassed.

"Yeah?" He called back,

She seemed to fight with herself for a few moments before she took a deep breath.

"Thanks…" as she said it her face showed that she was being sincere.

He stood there just staring, but as the sincere expression started to change to one of annoyance again, he grinned back at her.

"Welcome," and he turned back around again, still smiling. There were a few moments of silence, and then as he was almost at the gate there came another yell.

"This doesn't change anything Kou!" he laughed,

"Right," he yelled back and pulled open the gate, disappearing behind the wall. As he did so Usagi appeared at Haruka's shoulder, watching first her then Seiya as he vanished from sight.

"Come on Haruka, you should lie down for a bit," She said taking the taller girls arm and leading her into the living room.

* * *

"Good run?" Said Taiki sitting down in front of Seiya, who once again had papers spread out all around him as he tried to write.

"Huh?" he looked up, "What is it, I've lost my train of thought now…"

"I was asking if you had a good session at the track,"

"Wha… oh right, yeah…" he turned back to the lines he had just written, he frowned at them and then put a large black line through them.

Taiki sighed, between them Yaten and Seiya had barely put together three sentences all week, the only time they ever said anything more than 'huh' and 'yeah' was to be sarcastic about one or other aspects of the others life, main focus points being Minako and Haruka. Things might be better if they were still in education, they'd be too busy studying to worry about… no that wouldn't work, they never studied even when they were in school; still something had to be done or they were going to drive him crazy as well as each other.

"Right well, I'll leave you to it then,"

"Uh Huh," Seiya continued to stare at the page until Taiki had closed the door behind him; he then collapsed with his head in arms on the table. He hadn't had a moment alone since he got back, and earlier he had been so busy concentrating on first running after Haruka and then carrying her back to car, and then driving her back, that he hadn't even acknowledged how tired he was, he hadn't noticed until half way home that his own muscles ached, she was fast, and not exactly light as a feather. He sighed and pulled himself up collecting together the papers; he carried them into his room and put them on the top of the ever-growing pile that had been building over the last month. Sighing a few more times he collapsed onto his bed without bothering to undress and fell straight to sleep.

At the same time Haruka was still awake, staring up at the living room ceiling as Usagi bustled around her, occasionally Mamoru would come in to check on her. She knew it was for her own good but that didn't make relying on their help any less annoying, she was always capable of doing things herself, no matter how much pain she was in, but they weren't letting her, and it was both infuriating and wonderful to have her friends make such a fuss over her.

Finally convinced that there was nothing more that Haruka needed, Usagi came and sat still.

"Feel any better?"

Haruka looked up and nodded once, Usagi smiled and looked away out of the window.

"Haruka…"

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad, that you thanked Seiya," Haruka gave her a confused look, Usagi didn't notice however as she was still staring outside. "I hate to see you two arguing over everything, we should all just get along," She looked back at Haruka who was still looking confused. "After all, we're all part of the same world now, and we defended it together,"

Haruka looked at her a little longer and then nodded slowly.

"Besides, Seiya isn't a bad person, he knows that…" she paused and listened for a second, all Haruka could hear was Mamoru working away in the kitchen, "he knows that me and Mamoru are together, he wouldn't be so selfish,"

Haruka was quite shocked to find out that Usagi was even aware of the fact that Seiya had been and still was in love with her, as her words began to sink in she knew she was right, in fact if she thought about it, apart from mild flirting, Seiya had never tried to steal Usagi from Mamoru once he had returned. She frowned to herself as she realised just how hard it must have been for him over the last three years, now that she was going through the same thing she realised she certainly hadn't helped, but then again he was still annoying and she should be forgiven for losing her temper with him. Usagi was watching her expression changing; as she continued to argue with herself, with that signature serene smile on her face. After a few minutes she stood.

"Right dinner,"

"You don't have to I can…" Haruka said this a little too quickly to just be simply polite and the worried look on her face also gave her away.

"Don't worry," Said Usagi with a sigh, "I'm not going to cook it," Haruka sank back down into her pillows mumbling something about not meaning that as Usagi left the room.

* * *

It was a very loud knocking from the front door that woke Seiya the next day. He rolled over and glanced at his clock, wondering why Yaten or Taiki weren't answering the door as the knock sounded again. He leapt sharply to his feet as he read the time one thirty pm, well, that answered his question, Taiki would surely be in college at the moment and Yaten… probably out with Mina somewhere. Trying to straighten his now very creased clothes, and tidying up his ponytail he made his way to the front door, from where a fourth knock had sounded. Pulling it open he blinked a couple of times.

"Tenoh?" She rolled her eyes, "What are you doing here?"  
She stopped rolling her eyes and gave him a fixed stare. "I want to say something, and you better listen because I will never say this again!"

He nodded feeling very confused.

"I…" She paused and gave an annoyed flick of her head and breathed in, the next bit was said very fast, "…I wanted to apologise for how I have acted towards you over the last three years!" She then turned on her heel and started to walk away.

"Wait… what?"

She span around, wincing slightly and silently cursing her legs for still being painful, and glared at him, he looked like he'd just got up, she wasn't surprised, she knew how fast she had been running he must have been worn out. She had to refrain from laughing at his dishevelled appearance, far from the poster boy image he usually portrayed.

"I believe I said I wouldn't ever say it again," She replied, he blinked at her and she rolled her eyes again and made to turn around again, before she did however she pretended to look him up and down and frowned,

"Weren't you wearing those clothes yesterday?"

He just blinked again then looked down at his clothes. Haruka just shook her head and walked away, Seiya Kou, not a morning person, even if it was one thirty in the afternoon.

Once she had gone Seiya slipped back into the apartment and stared at the door for a few seconds, still trying to take in what he had heard. Eventually however he simply shook his head and came to the conclusion that he was not awake, there was no way he had just heard Haruka Tenoh apologise to him, either he was dreaming, or he had been still half asleep and had misheard her. He therefore made his way back to his room and fell back down onto his bed.

* * *

**Okay well that's Chapter 11 and i'm having serious trouble in how to over come the barrier, oh well i have a whole two weeks to think it through. As someone who i will check in a second said, we want action... just bare with me it's hard when you try to stick with the characters personality's as much as possible.**

** Anywho i want to come back home to lots of reviews :D i'll look forward to checking them. Got loads for the last chapter YAY.**

**RICEA42991: Hmm i've only seen a few episodes of PGSM, it's quite... odd, but i think it's meant to be lol.**

**SailorUranus28****: Yeah poor Michi, i do like her, which is why i tried not to make her into a villain, and i always thought Seiya seemed a very caring person so i wanted to bring that out in this :)**

**Seiharu85****: Wow... i didn't even think about that when i wrote it, oh well, i just figure that of all of them the one Haruka was most likely to listen to would be Usagi. It is sad about Haruka, but it's a necessary sadness really, i think the only way she was ever going to understand Seiya was if she was going through the same thing, sorry Haruka :(. **

**bibi3758****: I wasn't going for that angle... but i can see your point.**

**sailor-ahiru****: Heehee when i finished that i suddenly had loads of ideas and i was in a writing mood so yay. I'm really glad you like both my stories ;)**

**greenaselphaba****: Sei/Har 'action' as you put it :P hopefully beginning pretty soon, and she's sort of started sofening towards the end of this one, but like i said this is going to be a long story, i really want to get there but it's difficult with these two, stubborn is what they are. **

**owwiegh****: Another dose of medicine pour vous. :)**

**SuicidalBeyblader****: I'm really glad you love my story :D, and yeah i like both Michi and Ruka loads and loads.  
**


	12. In Denial

**I'm back YAY. Okay i know, really long time updating and this is quite a short chapter but, the dreaded writers block is back, it's short because i just wanted to update as soon as possible. **

**Anyway - Disclaimer - It is a well established fact by now that i do not own Sailor Moon or its associated characters, or at least that is what the men and women in white coats keep telling me.**

* * *

It could only have been two or three minutes later that Seiya was reawakened by another loud bang that resounded through the apartment, followed by a loud and, in Seiya's opinion, highly annoying voice.

"Seiya, you here?"

Growling several insults about his younger brother under his breath, Seiya rolled of his bed once again and wondered back into the living room.

"What?" he said irritably, Yaten turned in his seat to look at him.

"You know I could swear I just saw… have you _only _just got up," he asked, Seiya glared at him.

"Yes!" he snapped, and Yaten jumped slightly.

"Oh… well I thought I just…" He paused again looking Seiya up and down, "Weren't you wearing those yesterday," He gestured to Seiya's clothes; Seiya rolled his eyes but said nothing in reply. Yaten lowered his hand and was also silent for a few moments.

"Has anyone visited you this morning?" he asked suddenly.

Seiya thought about this for a moment, he finally settled on "huh?" for his answer.

"I thought I saw Tenoh leaving the building when I was parking my car…"

"Wha… oh yeah," Yaten stared at him, "yeah she came by about ten minutes ago… she woke me up," So he hadn't dreamt that, he must have been really out of it.

"And what exactly did _she_ want,"

"Uh I think…" he stared out the window, what was it she had said, it had seemed pretty unbelievable, his expression became confused.

"Earth to Seiya," Yaten waved his hand around in front of Seiya's face.

"She wanted to apologise…" he said, only vaguely aware of the words that he was speaking.

"For what?" Yaten was looking at him as if he had gone completely mental, then again, come to think of it maybe he had; it might explain a few things.

"Everything…" he said

"Everything?" Seiya nodded slowly and Yaten looked at him for a few seconds longer.

"You know Seiya… I don't think you're a bit overtired… you're hallucinating" he looked really worried. Seiya blinked a couple of times, he certainly felt overtired.

"Maybe…"

"I don't know what's worn you out so bad but… maybe you had the right idea of getting some more sleep,"

"Yeah…" He answered hazily.

"And… a change of clothes… those stink,"

Seiya frowned slightly, "You're such a girl," He said and turned to walk back to his bedroom, pulling off his shirt. Yaten frowned after him

"That's what I get for trying to help," He grumbled and turned back around in his seat, flicking the television on.

* * *

_'I didn't… no, I really didn't… I couldn't have… there is no way… I swore, never in a million lifetimes could the tiniest chance of the idea even contemplating the merest possibility of beginning to cross my mind,' _Haruka collapsed from her room pacing onto her sofa, causing the two girls already sat there to jump quickly aside

"I can't believe I actually did that!" she growled loudly.

Makoto and Rei exchanged confused glances, neither had the faintest idea what she was talking about. They had arrived about ten minutes earlier to see how she was feeling, and they had been hauled inside set down on the sofa and Haruka had been pacing up and down in front of them ever since.

"Why do I let my conscience get the better of me," She groaned putting her head in her hands "Better yet, why do I even have one, it's damned annoying,"

Makoto put her hand on her back and patted it slightly, unsure of what to do, she exchanged another perplexed look with Rei who shrugged.

That morning, Haruka had woken far earlier than usual and had spent five hours attempting to keep herself occupied, she had set about cleaning the house from top to bottom, something she rarely did on a grand scale, though since Michiru left it had started looking more and more like a tip and less and less like a home every day. When that was done she had actually tried to organise all the books in her small library into alphabetical order, or at least she had started, she reached D, found a load of books that should have been in A and C and suddenly realised that far from occupying her mind the tediousness of it was in fact killing off her brain cells one by one with every book. So she had instead decided to take an afternoon jog. The result of this brilliant decision was that she had unconsciously wound up right outside the home of one of the two people she was trying to keep her mind off. For the next half hour she endured a heated internal battle, which probably made her appear completely insane to passers by as she muttered to herself and moved back and forth towards the building. Eventually however, that damned conscience had gotten the better of her and she had marched herself into the building, argued for ten minutes with two large security guards when nobody answered the intercom, got fed up and knocked said security guards out cold and proceeded to knock loudly on the door for five minutes until a very tired and messy looking Seiya Kou had appeared.

It wasn't enough that she had then gone onto apologise to him, for everything, she had also been what could only be described as 'friendly', she was beginning to scare herself/ Of course she blamed Mina, and Yuki, for forcing the two of them to be civil to one another and refrain for sharp comments and shouting matches; she had been dragged against her will into bad habits and she was not happy about it.

She stood up and resumed her pacing "I'll never live this down… it's unbearable that I actually arg!" she grumbled,

"You actually…" Makoto began

"I can't believe it, maybe he won't remember… he did look like he was out of it… but God what a bloody mess!"  
"Haruka?" Rei said

"It's not like I even mean it… not really, I just had to stop that horrible nagging voice in my head!"

"Haruka!" Makoto said a little louder.

"I could take it back… but that doesn't erase the fact that I said it in the fist place!"  
"Haruka!" Rei shouted jumping up and waving a hand in her eyes. Haruka looked round.

"Yes?" she said. Rei looked over to Makoto.

"Er well, you know we're here for you and all but… we can't do much to help if you don't tell us what's wrong!" Haruka blinked at the two younger girls who were staring at her looking very confused.

"Did I not mention that?" They shook their heads. "Oh… you know it really doesn't matter!" Rei raised an eybrow at her.  
"Haruka if something's bothering you we…"  
"No really… it's fine…"  
"If it's to do with Michiru…" Makoto began

"Nothing to do with that," Haruka replied sharply and walked out of the room, the followed. "It was nice of you girls to come see me, but I'm fine honest,"

"You're sure?" Rei asked concerned. Haruka nodded and they walked past her, still shooting worried glances at her over their shoulders until they disappeared behind the front door.

Haruka sighed and walked away through the house towards the back garden, once there she found a nice patch of wall and punched it, hard… it was amazing how much better she suddenly felt, despite the now throbbing pain in her hand.

* * *

**Yeah again sorry for the shortness and the wait, aswell as my two week holiday i've also been at work doing extra hours for MONEY, plus i got my AS level results (Go me - 4 B's and a C) that plus the social life that i do actually have :P has left me very little time to overcome my writers block (sorrysorrysorrysorry x 100)**

**REVIEW...**

**Is a 6 letter word meaning (according to my trusted dictionary) : **a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.

**It also happens to be my favourite word right now, please honour me with your critical articles, thank you. **

**Angelsea: I hadn't thought about it until I started writing this fic, actually it was going to be Seiya/Usagi, but I'm glad I decided against that and did Seiya/Haruka instead. I'll try to write more about Michi, I do like her. **

**Bibi3758: Thanks I had a great trip, and I'm sorry you had to wait and wait for this chapter. **

**Owwiegh: No Seiya didn't mean she was fat, but I mean I'm not fat or tall, but I'm still pretty heavy just generally. I expect after a long run when your muscles are aching even someone petite would feel heavy and Haruka is probably the same size as Seiya. I hope you're still alive to read this. **

**debora diskey****: You have to see Ireland, it's probably the most beautiful country in the world. I really hope you go one day. **

**PriestessHelene****: Thanks for that I didn't actually remember that Haruka plays. I have heard Angels, it's one of my fave songs, actually a few days before your comment I made an AMV for Haruka and Michiru. It's on youtube, If you want to look it up my name on there is Rinielle as well; I have a lot of Sailor Moon AMV's. **

**Sailor-ahiru: my faithful reviewer :D. I didn't hinder myself, but fanfic writing provided great entertainment for long car and ferry journeys and I had a great time thanks :P. **

**SailorUranus28: Yeah poor Ruka, she hates to have to depend on others, she's very independent, you can see that even when she's with Michiru. I personally think she worries about people getting hurt for her sake so she prefers to go it alone.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay YAY i updated, i know its great right... ... ... Okay fine anyway i have FINALLY got over la dreaded Writers Block (Or Le Bloc De l'Auteur ((that's french)) :P) Also Good News or at least it is for me sings "I'm Getting a Puppy," about 20 times as you can tell i am majorly happy about this. :D. anywho since this bit is really a continuation of the previous chapter it's still fairly short, howeveri shall try my hardest to write a good loooooong chapter next.**

**Disclaimer: I, Rinielle, Do solemly swear, that i do not own, i have never owned, and i sniff shall never own sailor Moon or it's associated characters not even Seiya, Haruka, Yaten or Mina even though really really wish that i did and i ... am rambling embarrased smile **

* * *

As she walked down the corridor towards the changing rooms, Haruka noticed that quite a few people were staring at her, or more specifically her heavily bandaged hand and for the hundredth time she cursed her stupidity, for probably the first time ever, she had underestimated her strength and had not anticipated that in punching the wall she would send her fist straight through it; meaning she now not only had an injured and painful hand, she also had a hole in her wall. A few of her 'fans' looked as if they wanted to ask if she was okay, but were too scared, she tended to have that effect on some people. There was one person however that might ask and she was coming towards her already. 

She opened her mouth to speak but Haruka interrupted her.

"Just don't ask!" She said and Yuki stopped, closed her mouth again, and held up her hands, though continued to glance in a concerned fashion at her hand.

"Okay… I won't ask, but would you let me redo your bandage… it's really awful,"

Haruka rolled her eyes and in traditional Haruka fashion walked off refusing assistance. Okay so the bandage was bad, after all she had done it herself, with her left hand, whilst still seething. All things considered it was a good job and it was generally doing what it was meant to, she didn't need help, she would deal with this… her way! For most of the rest of the session Yuki seemed to have picked up on this and didn't mention it again.

Thankfully, in Haruka's opinion anyway, Seiya didn't turn up like he usually did in her moments of weakness. Haruka knew she'd face him eventually, and sadly by then he would have gotten over his initial disbelief and would probably have told everyone and she would never be allowed to live it down. She couldn't even blame it on her being drunk since it was about one o'clock in the afternoon, besides she never drank much anyway.

"HARUKA!"

She looked up sharply and found Yuki stood right in front of her, with her hands on her hips.

"Alright out with it!"

"Out with what?"

Yuki gave her a disbelieving stare and raised an eyebrow.

"Haruka the gun has now sound three times and you haven't moved, which also happened earlier, I've been shouting you for five minutes, earlier you ran four hundred meters and stopped because you 'forgot it was the eight hundred' plus, and here's the clincher, I have beaten you twice today… now all that, plus your hand, plus your even worse than usual sarcasm and bad temper, prove to me that earlier when you told me nothing was wrong you were telling me a barefaced lie!" She paused for breath, "So tell me what's wrong now before I beat it out of you!"

Now it was Haruka's turn to raise an eyebrow. Yuki was quite tall, maybe almost as tall as Haruka herself, but she was also very skinny and was kind of fragile looking, besides she had too kind a temperament to be able to hurt anyone. It almost made Haruka laugh to imagine Yuki trying to beat anything out of anybody.

"I'm serious Haruka!" She said trying to frown, and she even curled her petite hands into tiny fists and made small punching motions, which probably wouldn't have bruised an elderly fly. Now Haruka laughed.

"Do you give?"

Haruka shook her head very slightly, still laughing, "Okay I give,"

Yuki held her head up looking triumphant and waited for Haruka to stop laughing.

"So, first things first... your hand?"

Haruka looked at her and sighed, "I punched a wall, and my hand went through it,"

"No seriously!" Yuki started bring up her fists again.

"I am serious I punched a wall."

"Why?"

"I was pissed off,"

Yuki rolled her eyes, "So grab a pillow and punch that instead, less pain that way,"

"I know that _now_,"

"And whom exactly did you feel so 'pissed off' with,"

"Myself," Said Haruka frowning slightly.

"Care to expand,"

Haruka sighed again and looked up at the sky for a moment, it was already beginning to get dark, and a quick look into the stadium told her that most people had gone home now.

"What the hell, he'll tell everyone anyway… just don't laugh,"

"I promise," Yuki sat down cross-legged on the track and Haruka followed suit.

"Yuki!" Haruka shouted, Yuki continued to desperately suppress giggles, her mouth tight shut to keep them in.

"Yuki!"

"I'm sorry," She gasped, "I just can't believe that you are upset about _that_!" a couple of giggles escaped and Haruka took a deep breath clenching and unclenching her fist.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Haruka come on, don't you think you over-reacted somewhat," Haruka didn't think she'd over-reacted, actually she felt like she had under-reacted, that she hadn't quite got round to contemplating how much she had just screwed up her entire image. She stood up. "Fine help you are,"  
Yuki finally gave up and lapsed into giggles, "Haruka… I'm sorry but…" She stopped trying to speak Haruka rolled her eyes. She hadn't expected anyone else to understand. Apologise weren't in her nature, even when she knew she was in the wrong, and people knew that… now in one unplanned and conscience controlled action she had apologised, not just for one tiny thing, but for her behaviour over three whole years, people were not just going to let her live it down, especially not the recipient of said apology whose name she didn't even want to think at the moment.

"I'm going," She announced and Yuki stopped laughing.

"Oh Haruka, don't go," She said standing up, and putting a hand on her friends arm, one look from Haruka told her this was a bad idea and she withdrew it again. "You really shouldn't worry about it… Seiya… he's not as bad as you seem to think, maybe if you really annoy him he'll make a crack about it, but i…" Haruka had already turned and was walking away; she needed some peace, just to get her head straight. Yuki sighed knowing that it would be pointless going after her, she was in one of her best left alone moods, which were becoming more and more frequent recently.

* * *

The music that had been surrounding him suddenly stopped and someone shouted "Seiya concentrate for gods sake!" the voice was muffled, as if it was coming from the end of a tunnel, or from behind a wall. It hovered for a moment on the edge of Seiya's mind. 

"Hmm?" he looked up from his thoughts and found himself standing in the recording studio, a microphone in front of his face. "Oh,"

"What do you mean 'Oh', come on get it together," Their manager was stood outside looking through the glass window apparently thoroughly unamused.

"What's up with you today," Muttered Taiki from one side of him, on his other side, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yaten open his mouth, but he cut across him.

"It's nothing," He said and saw the white haired light roll eyes and mouth 'yeah right' he frowned at him.

"Okay let's start over, and Seiya…" Seiya looked up again, "Concentrate! I want to get home some time tonight!" he nodded vaguely and the music started up again.

Finally the session came to an end when the Three Lights manager threw his arms in the air and declared he'd had enough for one night.

"Seiya hurry up we're going," Taiki called, Seiya remained seated.

"Go on, I'll follow in a bit," he waved them off and though Taiki gave him a slightly worried look, Yaten was getting impatient. When finally he was alone he sunk further down into his seat. It had been a weird couple of days, actually it had been a weird year all round really. Most of it tended to revolve around one blonde or another.

He really needed to sort his head out, because especially after this afternoon, he was certain he was going completely insane, for one of two reasons. Either he had woken up this morning, and he was going mad because he had imagined Haruka Tenoh coming to his front door and apologising **OR** he had woken up this morning and she actually had been there and had apologised, and he was going mad because for some inexplicable reason, he didn't feel at all like making any snide remarks or putting her down about it.

He sighed, neither scenario boded well. He looked around the now dark and silent studio, pretty sure he had to be the only person left in the building except that weird old caretaker who seemed to hate music and musicians of all kinds. However this idea was shot out of the sky when suddenly the building was no longer silent, the sound of a piano was floating through the building, and whoever was playing it was undoubtedly very talented, meaning that unless the caretaker had a secret passion for playing the piano, Seiya was not the only person here, and, judging by the music, he was not the only one depressed about something.

* * *

**I'M STILL SORRY. Apparently slow updating has become a really bad habit BUT don't fear because i already have good ideas for the next Chapter so i'll try to update a bit sooner this time. Bad news is: College starts again on Thursday NOOOOOO i like holidays, cries oh well before i get too depressed about this, i think i shall go and read and comment about last Chapters reviews to make myself feel better.**

** Just a Quick and ENTIRELY random fact about me: Reviews make me happy, when i'm happy i write better and faster. (Just thought you would like to know)**

**Sailor-ahiru: You are correct of course, MONEY is always worth it, i hope those WTWML withdrawal symptoms are better. i think you can get a patch for them, try your local chemist.**

**PriestessHelene: Yay, i'm glad you like my AMV and my chapter :D I shall personally see to it that Haruka's house is squeeky clean and orderly, books and all :)**

**Bibi3758: Yay i can't wait to write that bit toooo, thanks for all your reviews :) Have you ever hit a wall... don't it hurts... a lot.**

**HarukaChikane: Short but sweet, kind of like moi... okay i'm not exactly sweet or short, but i was once... never mind. Don't be sorry Haruka does ROCK :)**

**And that's all follks**

**Ja Ne, Sayonara, Auf Wiedersehen****, Au revoir Ciao and all that.**


	14. Back to Normality? yeah right

**Okay FINISHED finally, i went over and over and then back over this chapter so many times, trying to get it right and i still have some problems with it, anyway, i'd like to see some more of you reviewing. My luffly faithful reviewers were there as usual and i LUF THEM ALL, but i like to hear from other people. Even if you have something critical to say, because i'm always trying to improve what i do. So please.**

**I'm not saying i won't update until i get reviews but i would like at least 6 really, it just helps me get an idea of what you all like/don't like about the story and i can make it even better :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I WANT TO OWN IT BUT THEY SAY I DON'T (CRIES)  
**

* * *

The music was getting steadily louder, and was fairly depressing, it sounded vaguely familiar, so it was probably some old classic piece that Seiya had heard maybe once. He sat for a few moments just listening, trying to place it, and then he stood and walked quietly towards the studio door. Why he crept along the corridors, he did not know, the music was loud even to him so there was little to no chance that whoever was playing it would hear him, still he swept silently down the long halls, following the sounds of the chilling melody.

It led him eventually to one of the lowest levels of the building, and it was becoming all to clear how loudly whoever it was was playing if he could hear them easily around 4 floors up, in fact as he neared the door where the sound was emanating from he had to cover his ears with his hands to shut out the sound slightly. Hands firmly clamped in position he gently pushed the door with his shoulder, it was ajar and swung open easily… not what he had been expecting and he hung back awaiting the inevitable sudden stop in the music and then the loud yells of whomever he had disturbed. But it didn't happen, apparently they were to absorbed, so curiosity overtaking common sense once again he moved forward into the doorway and peered at the figure sat in the darkened room, with only the light coming from a small lamp shining on the keys. He blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, then reached out a hand to pinch his arm to make sure he wasn't having a dream… nightmare… whatever. But he soon had to come to the conclusion that sat behind the grand piano was the unmistakable and ever surprising Haruka Tenoh.

He watched her for a few minutes not really thinking, just listening. It briefly occurred to him to feel rather sorry for the poor piano, apparently she was not in the best of moods. Still she hadn't missed a note yet. He didn't recall anyone ever mentioning that she was a world-class musician, as well as a top racer, on foot, motorbike or in a car, and a Sailor Senshi. He shook his head groaning inwardly at the irony of finding yet another thing that she out did him on, and there he'd been taking solace in the fact that, okay, maybe she could kick his ass (sadly proven on more than one occasion), maybe she could beat him in a race of any kind (see previous brackets), and maybe she had an equally if not occasionally sharper wit, but at least he could still excel in music when she could not. Apparently the world wasn't feeling very fair towards him.

It was then however that he noticed that while her left hand was pounding away mercilessly at the keys, the right one remained perfectly still. He frowned preparing to feel even more hard done by (it was just ridiculous if she could play this well with one hand) when he noticed that behind her sat a CD player and he sighed with relief and felt a small triumphant feeling in his stomach. A small smirk played across his face and he leant against the doorframe. He gave a cough, but apparently it was far to quiet get through to her.

"You know that's cheating," He said loudly. Her head snapped up sharply and he winced as her hand pushed down hard on the keys in her surprise, making a very loud dischord. He held back a laugh at the expression on her face. However the shock soon evaporated and turned to that oh so familiar glare. The music from the CD continued to play.

"What the hell are you doing?" She snapped irritably.

"Apparently the same as you… trying to sort my head out…" he replied, she turned back to the piano and started at the keys.

"What makes you think I need to sort my head out? I'm perfectly fine,"

"Tell that to the poor piano you've been beating up,"

Haruka rolled her eyes as Seiya walked further into the room; he reached the CD player and looked down at the case beside it, he picked it up and turned it over, scanning the back and finding the name of the song that was playing. They were silent for several minutes.

"What made you leave your thoughts and come poking your nose in here?" Said Haruka when the silence became too much for her to bear. Seiya gave a small laugh.

"I thought I'd check out who the talented but secretive piano player was… but like I said it's cheating to make people think you're good by playing just the one part,"

Haruka glared again, first at him, then at the CD player then down at the useless hand in her lap. She moved it closer to her hoping he hadn't and wouldn't notice it, all she needed on top of his inevitable taunts about her apology, was for him to know that she had then driven her hand through a wall out of frustration about it.

"Maybe so, but I still play better than you can sing, with one hand," she said turning to face him again.

"Ouch, that hurt," He laughed, and Haruka's frown started to become a look of confusion.

Was he being conversational, friendly, or just trying to put her off her guard, Haruka didn't know and she didn't care to right now. She was starting to wonder why he hadn't mentioned that afternoon's… incident.

"So does anyone else know that as well as a champion runner they're hanging around the one handed piano playing wonder?"

She froze. The question wasn't meant to hurt, but it did, none of the scouts knew, nobody had ever really known how well she could play, a few of her older and closer friends knew that she had had lessons, but the only person who had ever known the extent of her talent was…

"Michiru!" She snapped.

That shut him up, and she turned away, though out of the corner of her eye she saw him mouth 'oh'.

"I come here to practise… when everyone has left, Michiru was good friends with the owner of this building," She said staring at the music in front of her, and wondering why she was talking to him and not picking him up with her working hand and tossing him out of the room. Seiya watched her eyes following the lines of the music sadly.

"I used to help her prepare for duets," she added.

Seiya suddenly remembered why the music had seemed familiar to him. About a year ago, he had been dragged, very unwillingly, by Usagi (and Mamoru), Minako, Rei, Makoto, Ami and Taiki to a concert of classical music. Somehow Yaten had gotten out of it, and he was still bitter about that, however, about two hours in and he was half asleep when Minako had suddenly nudged him very hard in the ribs. He had looked up to see Michiru walking out onto the stage, which explained why Mina had agreed to come to a concert like this; the scouts never missed an opportunity to see their friend perform. She had done a couple of solo pieces and one accompanied by piano that had caught Seiya's attention. That piece.

"I think I heard her play it once," He muttered. Haruka nodded but continued to stare at the music. Seiya tried to search for a topic that would end the sad and slightly tense silence, his least favourite kind. However when your talking to a person who, until recently, used to be unable to stay in the same room with you for less than a minute without you or them beginning a fight, it was very hard to start a conversation.

"How long had you been standing there?" She asked and Seiya gave the smallest sigh of relief and placed the CD case back on the table.

"A while, but I couldn't help but listen you were playing so loudly, what have you got against that piano anyway," Was he imagining things or did she just blush slightly, maybe she was thinking the same thing because she automatically turned her head away so he was left staring at the back of her head. He hadn't noticed before but he was sure that her hair was slightly longer.

"I get… carried away in the music I guess," She admitted. Seiya nodded, more to himself than anything since she couldn't see him.

"I guess I know all about that, especially when we were trying to find our Princess," he said, at that time everything had been so desperate and rushed that the only time he had to simply drift away was when he was singing or when he spent time with Usagi, thinking back three years, it seemed so much longer, without all the threats and battles, life seemed to be dragging by at a snails pace and he had far to much time to think about things. There didn't seem to be any midpoint between the two. Taiki had suggested continuing education, but both he and Yaten had thrown that idea out of the window.

"Well," Haruka said suddenly standing up, "I just gonna, go,"

Seiya nodded "Sure, and maybe next time you'll have learnt the part for the other hand too,"

"Next time you make a comment like that I'll slam both _your_ hands under the lid!" and she made her way towards the door, putting out her right hand to pull it wider then drawing it back immediately as if shocked. Too late, damage done.

"Tenoh, what the hell have you done to your hand?" she opened her mouth to give a good explanation but none were coming to mind and so she decided to simply say nothing and left the room.

After staring for a few seconds, Seiya crossed the room, and followed her out. Falling into step next to her.

"What did you do punch a wall?" he laughed, a sharp glare was his answer, and he stopped laughing. "Not really the smartest thing you ever did," he noted.

"Neither was not throwing you up the hallway the moment I knew you were eavesdropping, but apparently I'm just feeling stupid today," she retorted, and she threw him a confused look when he started to laugh…again, apparently he was unaware as to just how bad a mood she was actually in.

"That explains a few things," he said, she eyed him warily, waiting for him to expand, but he didn't.

"You don't have to expect every other sentence I say to be a put down," he said as they walked out of the building. Haruka half sighed, half growled, and looked up at the sky.

"I guess it's just habit by now," she said.

"I know what you mean, I guess we haven't quite got civilised conversation down quite yet," He sighed, "Although I think that this afternoon saw a major improvement on behalf of one of us… the others would be so proud of yo.ow!" Haruka slapped him around the shoulder.

"Will you stop that! I'm fragile,"

"Your such a wuss, besides if you ever tell anyone I'll beat you to a pulp," the way she said it, Seiya didn't doubt her for a minute.

"At least I can die knowing you'll never live it down," He said slyly. She narrowed her eyes.

"If you dare…"

He grinned. "Okay, I'll tell you what, you minimise your bragging at every opportunity about how you always beat me, and I won't mention your moment of conscience this morning… again," he stopped and held out his hand to shake on it, she raised her eyebrows,

"Oh like I'll agree to that,"

"I know, you love a good brag, but will it ever be the same again once they know what a…"

"Fine!" She frowned and shook hands, "Bribery!" She grumbled and Seiya smiled again.

"It's a cruel world eh," Haruka rolled her eyes at him. "Ah get over it, in a few years crystal what ever will come around and you'll be to busy to brag anyway, or else we'll both just forget"

"Oh great only a few years," She said with mock enthusiasm, which quickly died, "Let's just go,"

Seiya stood there for a few seconds, as if waiting for something, "What!" she said exasperated. Seiya jumped and turned his head away to hide the fact that he was about to laugh.

"You're um… still holding my hand,"

Haruka's immediate reaction was too leap back as if she'd been shot through with ten thousand vaults, her second reaction was to slap his hand, and her third to start marching away.

Seiya gave a small cry of protest, although he was almost doubled over laughing.

"That hurt you know," he stuttered out.

Haruka simply kept walking, fuming in silence. Finally gaining some control over himself Seiya hurried after her.

"You know it wasn't my fault, why should I get my hand slapped?"

"I felt like it, besides I already have an injured hand,"

"Also not my fault,"

"Maybe not technically,"

Seiya rolled his eyes, though half-heartedly.

"You did that before," He said, and she gave him a questioning glance, and then quickly changed it to a glare that said she didn't remember and she didn't care.

"I stopped you falling, in the car park at the supermarket,"

"Oh right," she replied, as she recalled the incident, yeah she'd been pretty rude, but hey that's just how she was… still she'd accidentally apologised for that so there was no need to go into it. She rooted around in her mind for a snappy retort; sadly none came to her and the silence was getting longer, so she went with, "What are you still doing here?" It wasn't her best, actually probably her worst. She cursed herself.

"I'm walking," He replied,

"Oh very clever, you know what I mean!"

"Alright, it just so happens that my house is in this direction." He paused "I could ask what you're doing here, since yours… is in that one," He pointed over his shoulder and Haruka stopped walking. She looked around her, it wasn't so easy to tell since it was dark but it was pretty obvious, now that she looked around, that he was in fact telling the truth. Sadly by stopping and looking around she had totally blown out of the window any chance that she could say she wasn't going home anyway, she knew it, he knew it, and she could tell he was waiting for her to try and deny it. So she wouldn't, she now had two options, mild surprise, and shouting at him. Or else she could knock him out and cause him to forget today had ever even occurred… on second thoughts maybe just the shouting, besides all this 'friendly banter' was beginning to freak her out a good shouting match would put things back into place.

"You IDIOT!" she shouted. For a few seconds he simply stared at her in surprise. Then he came to his senses.

"What?!" He snapped.

"All this time you knew I was going the wrong way and you didn't say anything!"  
"Oh right it's my fault should have known," He frowned, what was her problem anyway, he was trying his best to be nice…ish to her, he'd even said he wouldn't tell anyone about her apology which he could tell she was fuming about and was probably the reason behind her bandaged hand, and yet she just had to be so damned irritating.

"It's not like you weren't looking where you were going or anything," he continued.

"You and your moaning about your bloody hand!"  
"WHAT? ME?"

She turned away and started to march in the direction of home.

"And taking trips down memory bloody lane," She shouted back, smirking slightly, knowing there was a look of absolute outrage on his face… ah normality.

Seiya stared after her, half mad and half… no wait he was all mad. She rounded a corner and he still stared. Then blinking he came around and turned to storm off in the other direction. He was going to have words with Mina, and Yuki, this was entirely their fault after all. He stopped; and sighed, realising it was his own damned fault for actually agreeing to be nice in the first place, and _her _fault for being so damned infuriating.

* * *

**Oh YAWN, i'm so tired, 9 hours till operating does that to ya. Anyway i'll reply to my reviews then say goodnight.**

**PriestessHelene: Cheeseyness can be good :P, but i thought i'd go for a more depressing theme, since it's more fitting and actually i was feeling that we were leaving Michi out quite a lot.**

**Jaycee: Thanks for reviewing i'm glad you're enjoying the story :)**

**bibi3758: Let me assure you, playing the piano with a bad hand does in fact hurt, i play piano and i tried it once... bad idea. But anyway you have your answer :P**

**Sailor-ahiru: Anything CAN happen, a point i keep trying to make to these Mamoru/Usagi fanatics who complain about pairing Seiya and Usagi because 'It wouldn't happen in the Manga/Anime' (can we say "No Imagination") And i'm glad you found those patches, i have a few at the moment for other stories but you're correct, updates are better.**

**Any who Goodnight.****  
**

**  
**


	15. AN:SORRY SORRY SORRY : Don't hurt me

**I seriously hate doing this to you all, but i absolutely cannot get into this story at the moment, i really wish i could but i dunno right now it's gone straight to the back of my mind what with exams and puppies and all these other story ideas rolling around in my head, and i just can't seem to dig it up again. If anyone has any ideas/suggestions they are VERY welcome cos i really like this story, so just leave a comment or PM me.**

** Again, i'm really really Really REALLY REALLY!! sorry. But i am working on a couple of other stories that i hope you'll like while i try and get my head back around this.**

** xSteph :(  
**


End file.
